As soon as the first nice day came around, some of my family members and I went on a day trip to Baltimore.  It had been years since I was there last, so I thought we needed to take advantage of that opportunity.

Our first stop was the Walters Art Museum.  I had never heard of this place before, but it opened in 1934 and began as a personal art collection.  The museum is free and the collection includes works from Egypt, Greece, Italy, the Middle East, China, etc.  In addition to the type of items I expected to see, there was also a Faberge Egg exhibit that was pretty awesome.

Right down the street, about one or two blocks away, was “The Washington Monument” of Baltimore and the George Peabody Library.  The monument can be climbed, but we did not reserve a time to explore that.  We just wanted to walk around the pretty park-like area, take some photos and then check out the library.

The George Peabody Library always seems to come up when discussing the most beautiful libraries in the world, or the most amazing, etc.  Trust me, it did not disappoint.  Although there are plenty of people using the library for study, I found myself among a handful whose sole purpose was to look on in amazement and snap a few great photos.

After a picnic lunch in the parking lot, it was on to the National Aquarium.  Once again, it had been many years since I had visited this tourist trap, and it was so nice to return.  I felt like a kid again as we moved through the exhibits or walked down through the spiral ramp, watching the sharks and stingrays float by.  We happened to be there during feeding time, so I really loved getting to see the divers hang out with the fish, deliver some lunch and photo-bomb visitors pictures.  🙂 It was also pretty nice to see Ed, the injured sea turtle who was rescued, had a flipper amputated and is now a crowd favorite.

Although the museum is a bit on the pricey side, I feel there really is a lot to see for the ticket price.  My feet were tired from walking to every exhibit and reading all the information on display.  Considering this was the only thing we had to pay for, besides parking, it really was a cheap-ish day in the city, combined with time by the water.

After a very long cold season, it was so nice to spend half of our day trip in 85-degree weather, enjoying the outdoors.