February Half Term in Baltimore and Washington DC, USA

Last week our family hopped on a direct British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Baltimore Washington International Airport for a 5 night city visit. After a lovely smooth journey courtesy of BA’s 787 Dreamliner, we arrived at the Days Inn Inner Harbor hotel looking forward to exploring over the coming days. Our room was cosy – big enough for the four of us – but nowhere near as ‘generous’ as US hotel rooms we’ve stayed in before. This one, however, had a standard fridge and a microwave, which came in handy a couple of times during our stay.

Day 1: National Aquarium, Baltimore

On our first day in Baltimore it rained: Quite torrentially in fact. So we decided to spend the day at the National Aquarium. As a wannabe marine biologist, this attraction was always on my list of to-do’s, but it exceeded even my high expectations. I will be writing a standalone post on the aquarium as there’s so much to say about it! The aquarium is located waterside in the Inner Harbor area – very easy to get to (you can’t miss it). On our first full night in Baltimore, we ordered in takeaway pizza as we were all so tired. It was lush!

Jellyfish at the National Aquarium

Day 2: Historic Ships Maritime Museum, Baltimore

Day two was windy: Icy cold winds that went straight through your clothes and attacked your bones. But it didn’t stop us heading out. After a breakfast stop at Johnny Rockets we were heading for Federal Hill when I was approached by a TV camera crew from Fox News. They asked if they could talk to me about the cold windy weather. Bashfully I declined, but Huw and Millie-Mae were up for it and they chatted to the camera for a while (we did appear to be the only people out and about). We never found out if we made the news. We tell ourselves that we did!

After their 5 minutes of fame, we walked up the many steps to Federal Hill, giving us fantastic views of the city and harbour below. After a coffee stop, and warm up, we purchased tickets to the Historic Ships Maritime Museum – again I will review this in a standalone post. We had a lot of fun climbing through a submarine and down into the lower decks of a tall ship. The children made full use of the handheld commentary, so they learned a lot too (always a bonus).

USS Torsk submarine, Baltimore Historic Ships

Day 3: Washington DC

We took the MARC train to Washington DC on day 3 – Valentine’s Day. We used hop on/hop off tickets for the Big Bus Tours, which operated several coloured routes around the city. As we only had a day we could only take in the highlights – Pentagon, White House, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument … We caught the 6:30pm train back to Baltimore.

It was a long day, but it was a real eye-opener, to me anyway. I’ve never been to Washington DC before – only seen the White House on the TV. I was surprised at how ‘small’ it was. Huge brash buildings have gone up around it, and it looks like a little bungalow in the middle of some skyscrapers! Ok, a slight exaggeration, but it wasn’t as impressive as I had expected it to be. The White House visitor centre is well worth a visit, especially the short film they show every few minutes. I will write about our day in Washington DC in more detail in a separate post.

The White House, Washington DC

Day 4: B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore

Our last full day in Baltimore took us to the B&O Railroad Museum, a few blocks along Pratt Street from our hotel. It’s a silly thing to say, but there were a lot of trains there. Everything from early trains through to modern day examples, many of which you could walk through. Huw found it really fascinating, as we all did, but there was a lot of information to take in. The main turntable building (the Round House) was truly amazing – my highlight if I’m honest. Huw is going to write about some of the technology he learned about at the B&O Railroad Museum in separate posts, and I will write a more in depth review of our experience.

The Round House, B&O Railroad Museum

Day 5: Fort McHenry National Monument, Baltimore

While waiting to head to the airport to fly home, we used the FREE bus service to take us to Fort McHenry – a key fort in America’s battles with the British over 200 years ago. Mentioning that free bus service again – we only found out about it the evening before, so had walked thousands of steps around Baltimore. Definitely use these buses if you are ever in Baltimore! Fort McHenry was a fascinating last stop on our city adventure. It is definitely worth a separate post, because it was here that the American National Anthem was written!

Fort McHenry, Baltimore

We walked over 35 miles in 4 full days – my FitBit loved me! It was a great way to get around the city so as not to miss anything (but we would have used the free bus had we known about it). There’s definitely plenty to do with children in Baltimore. The people of Baltimore are very friendly, polite and happy to help. If you ever get an opportunity to visit Baltimore, take it!