Last week I had the chance to visit Baltimore with a friend. I hadn’t been there since last summer and the memory of the beautiful harbor and the old buildings had been haunting my mind for months and I just couldn’t wait to go there again. This time I decided to spend my time not at the harbor but instead I chose to explore another part of the downtown which was just a few blocks away from the harbor where they have antique stores and old restaurants. My one-and-a-half-hour drive was so worth it.

When my friend and I finally arrived it was raining pretty hard and the weather was very cold. When I got off the car, my fingers started to shake as I could feel the freezing weather struck my very deepest bones. I quickly wore my gloves so that my fingers could feel a little bit warmer. The rain made it hard for us to explore the city, but then I realized that on the other hand the rain had made the old city more romantic and beautiful. I opened up the umbrella my friend had prepared and held it proudly with a big smile on my face. I could feel the breeze of the cold wind as I was walking on the sidewalk. I didn’t see many people that afternoon, probably because it was a weekday and it was raining but we were lucky because all stores were still open.

As I was enjoying the beautiful day, I kept observing the situation around. Everything seemed to be so peaceful. No one was yelling or talking loudly and there were just a few cars that could’ve interrupted the sense of peacefulness coming from the environment and the people. I couldn’t stop admiring how clean the streets and the sea water were, despite the fact that there were not many trash bins around.

I took some pictures with my borrowed camera, trying to look like a professional photographer. As I had developed a big interest in photography for such a long time but never had the chance to be involved within, I obviously couldn’t waste such a great moment to capture some beautiful pictures. The pictures I took are not the kind of pictures I could be proud of and they apparently are not the kind of pictures you will see on fancy travel magazines, but I hope you could still enjoy.

My friend and I decided to end our journey at a restaurant called Eat Bertha’s Mussel. It was a beautiful restaurant, I have to tell you. It was located right on the corner of Lancaster and Broadway streets. The food was not really special but the atmosphere was just so beautiful. It seemed to be an old and classic Irish restaurant, so of course they have a small bar full of beers and liquors. I ordered their special menu which was a large portion of mussels and a cup of hot coffee while my friend ordered some fish fillets and a hot apple cider. While I was enjoying my time and the food, the mussels were not bad, I could hear the sound of old jazz coming from the hidden speakers. It was just fantastic.

The time was late and I had to go back home. I decided to inhale the fresh air into my lungs and to enjoy the beautiful scenery a little bit more. Give me five more minutes, I said. The rain had stopped and I could walk on the sidewalk freely like a bird in the sky. When I was approaching the car and just a few yards away from it, I sighed and said to myself, “I wish this was Jakarta.”