Posted some pics from my trip to Baltimore.  No shots of the shopping, but there's plenty of pictures of the nice Inner Harbor area as well as the Baltimore Aquarium.  Nice place, but apparently they're starting a promotion of $1 entry fee.  We paid $18/person to get in!  *grumble grumble*

Down there, everyone responds to "thank you" with a non-chalant "Umm-hmmm."  Even though they were pleasant and answered your question, that final response feels like such a brush off and just felt rude, like they're saying "yeah, whatever buddy."  Didn't like it; couldn't get used to it.

Other than that, everyone is soooo nice there - they'll say "excuse me", wait for your acknowledgement, and only then will they pass in front of you.  So polite - very unexpected from Ugly Americans.  Which makes me feel even worse over this event:  while shopping at the outlet mall, I stopped into the food court to get a drink.  I got some change back from my purchase, around 70 cents.  The customer at the til beside me is short some money and asked me if he could borrow a quarter.  He's a teenager and is very clean cut, not a trace of punkness in him.  He's very well mannered and asked me very politely.  I had no problems with his asking me, and it was not a bother to me at all to give up a quarter, but my Toronto-bred automatic rejection of beggars kicked in and I responded with "No, I'll need it later."  He was stunned, speechless with his mouth agape.  Being turned down for a little bit of change is probably an unfathomable event in his universe.  He's probably the type of person who volunteers at soup kitchens, thinking of how his high social position allows him to help his fellow man... and then, in a matter of seconds, I coldly crushed his idealism.  Now he'll become a cynical sonofabyatch, hating everything and always expecting the worst.  So much for me being the good-natured, friendly Canadian. *sigh* At least I got some great deals at the outlet mall.

Later, as we explored the harbour area, we stopped into a nice Marriot hotel for a quick bathroom break.  There were a ton of people there with some sort of convention ID tags hanging around their necks.  We couldn't make out what the tags said, so we started playing guessing games.  There were small children there so it was likely that a company decided to bring their employees to Baltimore for some sort of Employee Appreciation event.  It was hard to figure out what company it could be, as the 'employees' were composed of ... how shall I put this... "have-nots".  Lots of trailer trash types mixing with seedy urban elements.  An odd group, to say the least.  What company would be composed of such demographics?  We finally asked the hotel restaurant hostess about the group, and visibly uncomfortable, she responded in a hushed tone: "Um, yeah, they're from Narcotics Anonymous."  Narcotics Anonymous?  They're all drug users??  I've never heard of a support group for drug users!  It is a good idea, though.  "Hi, I'm Greg... and I do crack."

I wonder if the Drug Dealers Association of America was also having a meeting in town?  :-)