Canton is hip but expensive. 6079SmithW already covered the big stuff. Baltimore also has a lot of options for live music, several excellent museums (one of my favorite places in the world is the American Visionary Arts Museum), a wide variety of ethnic restaurants, world-class health care (we'll hope you don't have the opportunity to use much of that), and a good zoo. Since I don't know what kinds of things you actually enjoy, I don't know what else to mention. Oh yeah, I do... Shore Leave every summer. Also, easy access to D.C. Edited to add: Public transportation is variable. The light rail and subway are great, but how useful you'll find them will depend on what part of the city or surrounding area you live in. I've never had the opportunity to use either! Bus service is much more widespread, but not as efficient. Feel free to ask anything else you think of. Of the top of my head, I don't have any suggestions for neighborhoods to live in, but I'll be glad to give feedback on places you consider.
As a Maryland native and someone who lives 30 minutes from Baltimore, I spend surprisingly little time in the city. I've heard that Canton is one of the better neighborhoods. Fells Point is also pretty cool. Then there's the touristy stuff at the inner harbor. Public transportation in the city? Not really sure, to be honest. I assume there's some sort of bus system but I've never used it. Driving is probably not ideal due to parking constraints. Walking seems to work well for many people. The MARC train will get you to DC if you want to explore the nation's capital.
Glad to hear you landed on your feet, even if it is on the East Coast. No advice, just best wishes and safe journey.
I've heard it's cheap up there. That has good sides and bad sides. Don't take it as a representation of the whole east coast, that's all I'm saying....
Yeah, but I've heard about prices approaching DC levels in some neighborhoods when I was still in DC, because of all the DCers who decided to move to Baltimore...
My girlfriend says Canton is nice, it's near the harbor and is being rebuilt. West of that area is also nice. North of it is Patterson Park, of which she says "stay away." I suspect nevermore would be able to give you more specific advice, but there's that.
I would mention Camden Yards but I doubt Timby is an O's fan. Still, worth a try, I guess. (Seriously, it is a VERY nice ballpark. One of my favorites ever.) I did like Baltimore very much, although I didn't see much of it outside OPCY and the Inner Harbor. I do remember that Baltimoreans were very nice to me (the lovely Tora Ziyal is an example, I got to meet her ), which is exactly the opposite of, say, Philadelphia. So is Timby the "Hero of Canton" now?
^Aw. Except in certain residential neighborhoods, I've never had significant trouble parking, and I've lived here for 40 years.
Congrats on the new job, Timby. Alas, I've never been to Baltimore except to see a game at Camden Yards about fifteen years ago, so I can't offer much help. That's because of a little thing called the ocean, you wacky Midwesterner.
There was a science-fiction story - I want to say Asimov, but can't be certain - where the main character commented that every world he visited smelled terrible at first, compared to shipboard air, but that after a few days they all smelled fine. It's the same with modern cities; visit one for a day and wherever it is, it smells funny. Stay there for a few hours and the smell starts to fade away...
I can't remember the last time a city has actually smelled bad to me. I always seem to smell the food vendors when I am walking around. Pretzels and hot dogs and roasted peanuts and stuff like that. Probably the best food smell I have known in a big city was in Boston, in the area around Fenway Park. Although Camden Yards has great food as well, with the requisite smells. 'Tis true, you know. May I have this "How you doin'", my dear?
^Why certainly, sir. I'm doin'... um... actually, I'm not sure. May I get back to you on that? And how are you doin'?