visit Baltimore : Buzz

The Walters Art Museum's latest exhibit, which explores the depiction of Africans in Renaissance art, gets a writeup in the New York Times.

"Visually the exhibition is a gift, with marvelous things by artists familiar and revered — Dürer, Rubens, Veronese — along with images most of us never knew existed," the Times writes. "Together they map a history of art, politics and race that scholars have begun to pay attention to."

"Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe" runs through Jan. 21 and features paintings, drawings, sculptures and printed books depicting black Africans in Europe from the 1400s to the 1600s. Africans living in or visiting Europe at this time included artists, aristocrats, saints, slaves and diplomats.

You can read the entire Times' review here. 

Maryland residents who seeking refuse from the massive Category 1 hurricane that is pummeling the East Coast were out of luck this week. Flights out of BWI were cancelled and the Maryland Transit Administration is suspending light rail, subway and bus service.

And cruise passengers leaving out of the Port of Baltimore saw their vacation plans disrupted. 

"Passengers who boarded the Royal Caribbean Enchantment of the Seas at the Port of Baltimore Friday evening looked forward to a five-night cruise to Bermuda," writes WBAL TV. "Instead, they left Baltimore five hours late for a ride to the lower Chesapeake Bay near Cape Henry, Va. The excursion became a 'cruise to nowhere' making no stops," the story says. The article was picked up by MSNBC.com. 

Baltimore residents who want to be spooked on Halloween have nothing to fear, according to SmarterTravel.com. 

The travel website named Baltimore one of the 10 most haunted cities. Charm City boasts plenty of ghostly destinations, including Edgar Allen Poe's final resting place, the Westminster Hall catacombs. Then there's Fort McHenry, where haunted apparitions have appeared. 

"Hundreds of years of lost lives and the spirits that remain make the Fells Point area popular among ghost trackers," SmarterTravel.com says. "Guided tours through the maritime neighborhood take you to taverns, shops, and restaurants where things go bump in the night."

Washington, D.C., Savannah, Ga., Chicago and San Francisco also made the list.

Maryland's haunted appeal got another boost recently whenTrip Advisor named Ellicott City one of the top 10 spooky American Getaways. 

And if SmarterTravel's suggestions aren't your cup of brew, there's also the Creative Alliance's annual Halloween Lantern Parade & Festival tomorrow. 

We just hope that "Frankenstorm" Hurricane Sandy doesn't scare everyone away from their Halloween plans. 

Huffington Post recently went on an expedition to Baltimore's Lexington Market. The reason? To see the tempting display at Berger cookies' stall. 

The cake-like cookie with fudge frosting has been making its way south to grocery stores in the Washington, D.C., market.

"If you've ever had Dangerously Delicious' Baltimore Bomb pie, the critical ingredient in the oh-so decadent dessert is a little not-so-healthy treat that's been a favorite in Charm City for generations: Berger cookies," Huffington Post writes. 

The article comes with a mouth-watering slideshow. 

Baltimore City has proposed a plan to keep the former home of Edgar Allen Poe going under a plan that was approved by the Board of Estimates Oct. 3.

Under the proposal, the B&O Railroad Museum will get $180,000 to help the West Baltimore attraction continue operations, the Baltimore Sun writes. The museum had been in danger of closing. 

"The overriding idea is to turn the Poe House into a draw that will not only see increased attendance, which has fluctuated between 3,000 and 5,000 annually, but also make Baltimore a destination for Poe enthusiasts," the Baltimore Sun writes. "It also envisions an annual operating budget of between $200,000 and $300,000 — substantially more than the $85,000 the city had been spending annually on the Poe House."

You can read the rest of the story here. 

The Washington Post features the Baltimore Museum of Art's much anticipated $24.5 million renovation of its contemporary wing, set to reopen Nov. 18. 

"Planning for the entire renovation — which will also include changes to the American and African Art spaces, as well as a new lobby and other visitor amenities — began a decade ago and is expected to be completed in 2014, when the museum celebrates its 100th anniversary," the Post writes. 

The renovated BMA wing will also feature two murals by Baltimore street artist Gaia, best known for organization Station North outdoor art project Open Walls Baltimore. 

Talk about flea market finds.

A Virginia woman bought a Renoir painting at a flea market for $7 that was set to go to auction and expected to fetch as much as $100,000.  

But then the Washington Post found that "Paysage Bords de Seine" may have been been stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art. A copy of the 1951 police report provided by the Baltimore police shows the painting was indeed stolen, the paper writes. 

"The new details could trigger a legal showdown over the painting’s ownership among several players: the historic Baltimore museum; the company that insured the painting and paid a $2,500 claim for the stolen artwork; the six-year-old auction house; and the Virginia woman who unwittingly purchased the Renoir at the Harpers Ferry Flea Market," the Post writes. You can read the entire article here. 

We've often highlighted USA Today stories that make mention of Baltimore hotels. 

Now USA Today has featured a BmoreMedia news story on two Baltimore hotels that are debuting new restaurants at their properties. And now we're featuring the USA Today story that highlights our original article. How very meta, you say. 

One of the hotels, the Tremont Plaza Suites Hotel is converting to a Hilton Embassy Suites. And as part of the makeover, Hilton is debuting its new restaurant concept Brickstones in Baltimore. 

"Months after celebrity chef Michael Mina opened not one but two restaurants at Baltimore's new luxury Four Seasons hotel, two other Baltimore hotels are preparing to unveil new restaurants," USA Today writes. 

"One restaurant will open in the future Embassy Suites hotel, which will occupy the old Tremont Plaza hotel in downtown Baltimore, bmoremedia.com reports."

Pabu, the Japanese restaurant inside the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore, is celebrating all things sake this week.

Free sake awaits happy hour patrons on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, writes Baltimore magazine. Thursday, the restaurant will hold a five-course dinner with sake pairings. 

You can read more about the sake celebration here. 

Whoever thought that a neighborhood in Baltimore would be featured alongside Williamsburg, New York City, Silver Lake, Los Angeles, and Chicago's tony Wicker Park?

Forbes has done the favor to Hampden, ranking it No. 15 on its list of hippest hoods. 

"Bars, restaurants and independent coffee houses co-mingle with two-story rowhouses harking back to the neighborhood's days of mills and factories," Forbes writes of this "retro cool" neighborhood. 

Silver Lake took the top spot, followed by San Francisco's Mission District and Brooklyn's Williamsburg. 

San Francisco's Nextdoor.com helped Forbes compile the data, assessing each neighborhoods walkability, number of food trucks, locally owned eateries, art galleries and other hipness factors. You can see the entire list here. 

Pennsylvania has its groundhog Punxsutawney Phil to predict whether spring will come early. 

Now Baltimore has its own critter that can forsee future weather. Spice maker McCormick & Co. Inc. will rely on a crab to determine if we'll get an early winter, writes the News Journal of Wilmington, Del. On Sept. 26, the makers of Old Bay seasoning and other spices will make a crab walk the plank into the Inner Harbor, the paper writes.

"If he goes off the right side it will be an early winter. And if he goes off the left side it will be a warm fall," writes the News Journal. 

McCormick recently opened a Harborplace retail location, near which the event will take place. 

Berger cookies' expansion into Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia can only be a good thing, right? 

Not according to a Baltimorean who says the cookie is so linked with Baltimore, it can't possibly be truly appreciated by non-natives. 

"Can a city like DC boasting so many five-star restaurants really value this simple cookie?" Andrew Reiner asks in the September issue of GO:AirTran Inflight Magazine. 

"First, there's the look of the Berger, as it's often called, with its leviathan mound of hand-dipped fudge icing atop a cakey wafer. 'A chocolate delivery vehicle,' is how one cyberspace foodie refers to it. The fudge icing is just that ponderous— and inconsistent."

Read the rest here. 

The Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore has one of the top 12 “head-turning” infinity pools, according to Conde Nast Traveler. From the complimentary sunscreen, private cabanas and sounds from the nearby Pier 6 Pavilion summer concerts, swimming is only one of the reasons guests should check out the pool, says the magazine.
 
Some of the other hotel pools on the list are located in Tanzania, Africa, Toronto, Turks & Caicos and Bali, Indonesia. 

Rachael Ray says Baltimore has one of the nine best Little Italys. In the September issue of Everyday With Rachael Ray, which comes out Aug. 14, Ray mentions Germano's Trattoria and calls the area “a pocket of cozy brick buildings” that “feels like home," writes Richard Gorelick in the Baltimore Sun. 

John Waters had enough of hitchhiking and headed back to the stage. To commemorate the 25^th anniversary of his film set in his hometown city, he will launch Hairspray: In Concert! next year, according to Broadway World.

Hairspray: In Concert! will premiere with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Jan. 11-13, 2013, and with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Jan. 24-27, 2013, writes Broadway World.

The cast includes Broadway stars Nick Adams, Marissa Perry and NaTash Yvette along with Waters himself. Read more about it in Broadway World.