The City of No Hangers
This weekend I went to the Baltimore Inner Harbor to attend a wedding. When I got there I discovered I had forgotten to bring casual clothes. I went to the Gallery Mall to see what I could find. Of course there is nothing cheap there. I ended up in a Levi Store. A very nice young man helped me out.(Does saying “very nice young man” make me an old geezer?)
I got some jeans and a shirt. It wasn’t cheap but better than Brooks Brothers.
But here is the strange part. I go into a dressing room to try on the jeans. The dressing room doesn’t have a hook or hanger or anything. There isn’t a stool or bench. Just four square walls and the floor. You have to put your clothes on floor. It’s crazy!
I was staying at the Hyatt. This was not cheap. The bathroom didn’t have towel racks or hooks of any kind. They didn’t have any of those luggage stands for you to put your suitcase on. What’s up in Baltimore?
They charged for everything.
Check out this sign in the room refrigerator.
Guest’s convenience my ass!
And of course before seeing the sign Ammon pulled some sodas out to make room for his doggie bag from The Cheesecake Factory. At settlement I had 3 $5.00 sodas on the bill. They kindly took the charges off. I bet they get a lot of that.
But we had fun. During the non-wedding time Andrew, Ammon and I visited the inner harbor and took a tour of the The Torsk submarine and the USS Constellation sailing ship. The sailing ship was the last sailing ship to be used by the U.S. Navy.
Ammon and Andrew take control of the sub.
It’s a lot more cramped on a sub than it looks like in the Hollywood movies.
The Captain’s quarters on a sailing ship were pretty darn nice. He is the only person on the ship with his own latrine. The rest, including other officers, just had to let it all hang out over the front of the ship. Hence the term the “head”.
Me taking charge in the Captain’s digs.
I learned a few things. Officers are required to provide their own food on the ship. And the captain is required to entertain other officers.
It was a fun trip. I would like to go there again.
Tags: Baltimore's Inner Harbor
October 14th, 2008 at 10:07 am
You guys sure had a fun time together - it seems to be classic example of male bonding between father and sons. Nice!
Baltimore Inner Harbor is a fun place.
I know that as a woman, I and many others like me who take a whole bunch of clothes at a time for trying out would find it most aggravating not to mention ruinous for the garments, if they were dumped on the floor.
Did you ask the store as to why their dressing room does not have any hangers? That is certainly intriguing! Wonder if this is just applicable to men’s dressing rooms for whatever reason?
October 14th, 2008 at 10:27 am
It was aggravating for this male also. I mentioned it to the young man helping me. He said it was strange and that some of them had a stool. He later took me to one with a stool. That doesn’t help a lot but it is better than nothing.
October 14th, 2008 at 11:04 am
That Hyatt fridge is messed up. How is it convenient to not have anywhere to put your own food? Lame.
I had never heard the bathroom referred to as “the head” until I married your nephew. Is this a family thing or something?
Old ships are cool, though. I toured the USS Constitution with my parents when they came to visit–my Dad’s a big sailing buff. I can’t imagine actually living on one of those things though. Talk about cramped and uncomfortable, not to mention all of the other less-than-pleasant aspects of life at sea.
October 14th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Calling the bathroom the “head” is a sailing term. Because it was always done at the bow/front of the ship they called it going to the head. Head of the ship. Now if you want too much information the reason they always went to the bow for this job was because…
The forward motion and ocean spray sort of acted as a “flush” to keep the ship clean.
And if you want more unpleasantness, we also learned that sailors working in the lowest deck could also be lazy. They didn’t want to go to the upper deck so they often just did their business in the bilge. They said it could get pretty unpleasant down there.
October 14th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Now that was too much information yet educational in a gross kind of way
October 14th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I wonder how many people just let the charge for beverages go?
And I would think it would be more pleasant and have less “blow back” if a person whizzed off the stern.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Wow…looks like everyone had a great time. My brother was in the Navy..Worked on a sub, three months on and three months off…He absolutely hated it at times and yet as they say “it was the best of times it was the worst of times” He had a lot of stories…just can’t put them on this forum! haha
October 15th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Carey: We could have used your brother. As we were touring the sub we discussed how it would have been nice to have someone with us who had actually worked on one.
It seems like to me it would be very difficult. It was so cramped. They had bunks for a third of the crew. They slept in shifts. I think it would be very hard to never have any privacy or personal space. You would be up close and personal almost all the time with your crewmates.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
i remember going on that submarine as a little tike. i enjoy baltimore’s inner harbor…although it’s a far cry from the rest of the city. it feels like two different worlds. it was a p-day treat to go to inner harbor, but i think i ended up enjoying the other world of baltimore even more.