Baltimore Day 2

My second day in Baltimore was a day of complete and unexpected fun. It stated at about 9am when we checked out of our Hotel and drove about a block to Towson Hot Bagels. The google review gave it a 4.7 out of 5 and they were not wrong!

When we first walked into the store we were followed by a carload of Baltimore cops, Tim and I both agreed that was a good sign when it comes to dough goods. We went up to the front counter a little intimidated by the myriad of options on the menu. I chose the first thing that jumped at me: the lox and cream cheese on black poppy seed. As you can see from the pics, they loaded it up! As my sister says, they put enough topping for a week's worth of sandwiches hehe

When we eat out, Tim loves to get recommendations from the staff, if there is a house speciality etc. The waiter said you cannot go pass the bagel with the lot, but he was just talking about the seed toppings. Then he asked for he wanted inside the bagel. Again Tim asked for a recommendation which was bacon and eggs. When Tim tried it he said it was "the breakfast food of champions".

After breakfast I dropped Tim off at the Baltimore Research building and I was just a short drive away from my main event, the Hampton National Historic Site. And lucky it was a short drive really, because I am still not used to driving in the USA.. Anyway, I had been wanting to visit a historic house on my travels to the Hudson Valley and also in Frederiksburg, Washington but for one reason or another I had not been able to, so I was very pleased when I realised I could go to Hampton.

As it turned out I arrived at precisely the right time. They were having one of their scheduled free tours of the house just as I got there and I thought *Winning*!

The house is set up so that each room tells the story of a different generation of the Ridgely's. Starting with the first Ridgely master in the Parlour which is set up as it was when he lived there. He had the house commissioned, in the Georgian style of the time, so the house is mainly symmetrical or open book styled. As you can see from the photos it looks the same from the front as from the back.

Then we went down to my favourite room: the kitchen. It was considered a very modern kitchen for the time. It had an early days conceptual oven and stove and was set up with pretend food that I am sure my mum would have secretly wanted to play with if she was there with me (she has a thing for pretend food!). Personally, I loved the simplicity of it, and would love something in a similar vein, just with an updated stove.

Next was the very opulent dinning room. It had imported French wallpaper depicting scenes from the Champs Elysees and was set up for a Christmas Dinner. It was arranged as it was when the second master Ridgely lived there. I thought it was amazing that 95% of the furniture/ carpets/ wallpaper etc are original Ridgely pieces. The others are genuine antiques from the era to represent what would have been there. They have done a great job with restoring the house and decorating it.






Following this we went through the entryway and stopped to admire some of the art. There is a reproduction of the painting of Eliza Ridgely "Lady with a Harp" on display where it once hung. The original was sold to the National Art Gallery some time ago. There were many beautiful portraits of the family members throughout the house. I loved the lady above the antique chairs (shown on the left). Her son went on to become the ambassador to Italy and was one of the main authors of the treaty of Versailles. They also dressed him up as a little girl in him portrait, so there you go :-)



From there we moved onto the extremely opulent drawing room. This room did not really attract me as the others did, but it does serve to reflect the changing fashion and the changing times. It was very avant garde, and connoting gaudiness in my humble opinion but luckily the rest of the house was not preserved in this fashion.

We then made our way upstairs and peeked into the master bedroom which has a much more reserved country mannor feel. The house was originally built as the summer home of the Ridgely's and you certainly got that impression here.

Next to this was another lovely room, mainly used as a guest bedroom. I especially loved the vintage bedspread and the little knick-knacks besides it, as well as the monogrammed throw blanket and Turkish rug. And what about that darling ridding coat.

Then came a very sweet Bedroom, set up from when it had belonged to a little girl called Didey Ridgely. They had it set up with period dolls and even Didey's original books on the study. It was very charming. Maybe it was sweet because our guide spoke about her like a grandfather would of his grandchild and it made her seem more real than the other figures.

Finally the tour ended in the family Lounge room. It was also decorated for Christmas and was very lively. It was definitely alive with colour.

Once the tour was completed, our lovely guide explained that the house grounds and "home farm" were also open to the public. People normally walk around and explore but due to inclement weather probably today was not the day for it. Well I did not agree with him at all. I was there for about 4 hours walking exploring and taking photos.  The home farm was also by far my favourite part of the excursion. I very much enjoyed their interactive displays. There was a box which included the items of clothing slaves received. The women received one dress, petticoat, bonnet and shoes every six months. The men received trousers, a shirt, a coat and shoes every six months. And that is it, that is what they wore everyday. It is one thing to be told these things and another to feel the clothing in your hands. Especially on a cold winters day, standing in a tiny cabin that was the home to who knows how many slaves? That just impacts you a lot more than a history book ever could.

As I say I did a lot of exploring and took a LOT of photos. At one point I was walking up the hill from home farm to the Main House and it is a majestic view and I was reminded of when Elizabeth Bennet sees Pemberly for the first time. I guess Tim was just so glad that I did this excursion without him hehe. 

But the last thing I want to share is the ice house. Being so fabulously wealthy the Ridgely's could afford to have a special ice room on the grounds. Personally I love exploring underground caves so I thought it was a great little find that they don't tell you about but is just ad hoc exploration ground. Those stairs are steep and with the melting snow from the day before it was wet, which made it very realistic. 

So after a little more exploring I was getting very hungry. I had thought that I would go to a Japanese restaurant since there were quite a few in town, but actually I have to confess I went back to the amazing Vietnamese Pho from the day before. It was a freezing cold day, how could I choose sushi over delishious hot broth?! I love adding some chili paste to give it a smooth but pronouced kick ;-)

After lunch I had just enough time for a quick stop before going to pick up Tim from his work. Across the road from Pho Dat Thanh was a shop that had caught my eye the day before. It's called 10 Car: Clothing 4 the tragically hip. It was such an amazing place. Probably the only best thrift store I have been to so far except for Armstrongs Vintage Emporium in Edinburgh. Well worth a visit if you are in the area :-) 

So after a little browse but sadly no purchases I collected Tim and we embarked on our 3 hour return drive to Cherry Hill. We were only stopping by though because we were then straight off to New York city. But that is a story for another post. Thank you for making it this far in my adventures. I would love to hear of any comments or question from you!