Recreation

Baltimore is a spirited city--a unique blend of historic charm, ethnic heritage and urban vitality. Baltimore has retained the distinctive flavor of its past as a port city on the Chesapeake Bay while moving forward as a city with a lively, cosmopolitan atmosphere.

For the spouse/significant other:  The Johns Hopkins Medical Auxiliary

The nationally acclaimed Inner Harbor is the centerpiece of the City's renaissance. Surrounded by such landmarks as the National Aquarium, the Maryland Science Center, the U.S.F. Constellation and the Baltimore Maritime Museum. The Inner Harbor is a waterfront showcase featuring shops, restaurants, harbor cruises and a variety of year-round activities. Summer brings a splash of colorful festivals celebrating Baltimore's cultural and ethnic heritage.

Fort McHenry, birthplace of "The Star Spangled Banner," offers a glimpse of Baltimore's past, as do the B&O Museum, which celebrates the inception of the railroad, the Maryland Historical Society and Carroll Mansion. Visits to the homes of Edgar Allan Poe, Babe Ruth and H.L. Mencken provide a look into the lives of some of Baltimore's most famous citizens.

Baltimore's cultural scene is as diverse and lively as the City itself. The Meyerhoff Symphony Hall is home of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The elegant Lyric Opera House, the Peabody Conservatory and the outdoor stages of Merriweather Post Pavilion, Pier 6 and Oregon Ridge play host to every musical taste from classical and jazz to country music and rock.

Theater-goers will enjoy Center Stage, the City's outstanding repertory company, as well as the Theatre Project and numerous dinner theaters offer a wide variety of entertaining productions from classic and contemporary to modern dance and experimental performance works.

Lovers of the visual arts should visit the Baltimore Museum of Art which has changing exhibits and the Walters Art Gallery which holds a magnificent collection of Oriental, Egyptian and European art and artifacts. Exhibitions at the Maryland Institute College of Art and numerous private galleries around town make for a lively contemporary art scene.

Sports fans enjoy Orioles baseball and Ravens football along with the yearly Governor's Cup yacht race on the Chesapeake Bay. The Preakness, second jewel in the Triple Crown of horse racing, is run each year at Pimlico Race Course. Hopkins lacrosse and University of Maryland football also enliven the local sports scene.

Closer to home and on the Hopkins hospital campus, the Denton A. Cooley Center offers complete recreational facilities, including tennis courts and an olympic-size swimming pool as well as handball, racquetball, squash and basketball courts, an elevated running track, exercise machines and saunas.

AMTRAK services Baltimore at the newly renovated Penn Station, five minutes from the Johns Hopkins Hospital. There is frequent service to Washington D.C. (30-minute trip), Philadelphia (1.5 hour trip) and New York (2.5 hour trip). The Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) is 10 minutes from the city and offers a full range of national and international flights daily.

In addition to Baltimore City, the Chesapeake Bay, bountiful with seafood including Baltimore's favorite oysters and blue crabs, offers swimming, sailing, motorboating and fishing. Along the Eastern Shore, flat terrain dotted with country town and fishing villages makes for delightful bicycling and sightseeing. The beaches of Ocean City, Maryland; Rehoboth, Delaware; and Cape May, New Jersey are easy day trips from Baltimore, as is Assateague Island, Virginia, a seashore wildlife preserve where campers can view pelicans, herons and wild ponies roaming free.

Historic Annapolis, the state capital and home of the United States Naval Academy is a town for architecture buffs, boaters and seafood lovers. Only 45 minutes from Baltimore, it offers beautifully preserved 18th-century mansions and historic landmarks along with harbor cruises, sailing schools, antique shops and restaurants.

Washington, D.C. with its myriad historical and cultural attractions, is about an hour's drive from Baltimore. In addition to the Air and Space Museum, the Museum of American History and the National Gallery of Art, Washington and nearby Georgetown offer a wide variety of restaurants, specialty shops and bookstores.

The state parks of Western Maryland, between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains, are the spot for hikers and campers. Deep Creek Lake, a year-round resort, offers a variety of water sports in the summer and skiing, both downhill and cross-country, in winter at nearby Wisp Resort. The C & O Canal, which extends from Cumberland in Western Maryland to Georgetown in Washington, D.C. offers picnicking, fishing and horseback-riding. Canoeing and rafting are especially popular along the C & O Canal and on the white water of the Potomac and Youghiogheny rivers.

If you want to discover Maryland via the Web, then hop aboard the virtual Walking Tour of Maryland. Or you can visit Yahoo and browse through its many listings.