What I Read -- Charm City: A Walk Through Baltimore

When I travel, I like to read a book about or set in or somehow related to the place where I am going.  S and I recently spent a week in Baltimore.  We were working remotely during the day, but we had afternoons, evenings, and a weekend to explore the city, specifically Fells Point, where we were staying.

I love walking.  I miss having my downtown condo and being able to walk to the dry cleaners, the grocery store, the library, and restaurants. 

Imagine my delight when I discovered that my library had a book all about walking around Baltimore: Charm City: A Walk Through Baltimore.  I started out reading it thoroughly, and the introduction gives some good background and city history.  I got through the first or second chapter when I realized that I wasn't really enjoying it.  It felt like I should be enjoying it, but I just wasn't into it.

Rather than giving up entirely, I skipped ahead to the chapter on Fells Point and the Inner Harbor.  That was a good move.  All the sudden, it was interesting again and I was fascinated to hear the details of the neighborhood in which we were staying.

I only skimmed through the rest of the book after that, but my experience with the Fells Point chapter made me believe that if I had more experience with Baltimore, I might have enjoyed the whole thing the way I enjoyed the Fells Point chapter.

I was interested to learn that this book is part of a series about walking.  I can't recall the name of the series now, but I added several other books from it to my reading list: On Island Time: A Traveler's Atlas: Illustrated Adventures on and Around the Islands of Washington and British Columbia, Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg, and Time and Tide: A Walk Through Nantucket.