The New Neighborhood

We officially moved-in to the new place today.  We are in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore.  Here are some things that are the West vs. East:

1.  We live within walking distance of to two major sports venues, M&T Bank Stadium (Home of the Ravens) and Camden Yards (Home of the Oriels).  Our block has each sidewalk section painted with a different Raven's jersey and a corner bar that looks like a South Baltimore original.  I'll report upon first visit.

2.  Outside now means at a park or on a stoop.  Our place doesn't have an outdoor space, so we now find ourselves either indoors or in a public outdoor space.  I actually kind of like it.  It's charming to have a stoop.  As a kid it was very Cosby to me to have a stoop and live in a Brownstone.  By the way, this isn't our stoop, this one is much nicer, but it is our neighbor's stoop.

3.  Restaurants (period)  We have probably 50 restaurants in our neighborhood.  They range from crab houses, to sushi, to Thai, Italian, delis, and apparently a "Southwest" Mexican place that has rellenos on the menu.  I will report back, but my assumption is it won't be anywhere near the same.

4.  I have a landlord.  It's been a long time since I have had to navigate a landlord.  Our landlord's name is Mahmoud (Moody) AlSafty and he is very amiable.  He is always helping us with things and begging us to tell him things that are wrong.  He finishes everything with "It is my pleasure".  I like him a lot.  He also doesn't allow me to lift anything over 5 pounds.  Not sure why.  With most people I would resist, but he is just so nice.


5.  People.  There are people everywhere, like flea market on the first Saturday of the month style.  Our neighborhood seems really friendly.  This morning Alan got a ticket while unloading from the truck.  One of the neighbors came out and yelled at the parking cop and told them to have a heart.  Oh yeah, and it is 95 degrees and 90% humidity today.