It's a good thing that there is a Camden Yards because there's not that much to do in Baltimore. The city has a sleepiness to it while at the same time forcing itself to try and be touristy. Camden certainly stands out in the city as a place with more natural vibrancy.

We stayed in the same hotel as the Baltimore Ravens, who were playing a game the next day, so every elevator ride was accompanied by a huge muscular individual -- I have not aptitude for recognizing football players and failed to recognize a single one.

There were a few bars across from the stadium that we did some pre-game drinking at -- much better beer prices than on the inside. Over the course of a couple of rounds we haggled on and off with a scalper who finally met our price at half off face value. We probably could have dome better, but if I get half price tickets I'm usually a happy man.

We stayed on the main concourse level of the park for the balance of the game. Our seats were on the first base side about half way down, and we wandered around the stadium and in front of the warehouse on what is called Eutaw Street.

The food smells from the stands were fantastic, and there was a good variety of typical ballpark fare, with some seafood and barbecued meats. I got a hot dog that was one of the best stadium hot dogs I've ever bought -- a perfect combination of slightly crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

There really doesn't seem to be a bad seat in the park. The similarities to Turner Field were quite amazing, but not surprising as we blatantly copied them with respects to certain design decisions. The park does have a need for an outfield bar, and they have the perfect spot for one over the right field scoreboard which is currenly just a plaza with flagpoles -- that's probably the one thing I'd change/add to Camden.

All in all, Camden is a really nice stadium -- most of the good things written about it seem to be true. I think one of the real tests of a good stadium is if I would return, and I definitely would. Now if they could just do something about the rest of Baltimore.

Here is a link to the box score for the game I was at.