Day 15: Onto Baltimore

Philly to Baltimore was an easy ride.  Only about 100 miles.  This was planned so we could see some stuff in Philly in the morning before having to rush and check out.  We got up and walked to see the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall.  We stopped for Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches at Steve’s Prince of Steaks and ordered one “Whiz with” which means with cheese whiz and onions, and one “provolone with” which is provolone cheese with onions.  Both were excellent but we surprisingly preferred the Cheese Whiz one!!  We ate half of each sandwich and saved the other halves for later.  We checked out of the horrible le Meridien hotel and rode off for Baltimore.  We stopped at a truck stop and ate the other halves of the cheese steak sandwiches sitting on the pavement next to the parked motorcycles.

 

We arrived in Baltimore, fought over a $48 parking charge for the 2 motorcycles (Rachel won that one!) and relaxed.  Later in the afternoon, we set off for dinner.  We settled on Korean BBQ.  Real Korean BBQ.  As real as it gets in the US anyway!  The restaurant was called Jong Kak.  Jong Kak is famous for using mequite wood to cook the meet at your table, not charcoal.  So off we went.  We stopped half way along the 2.4 mile walk for beers at Brewer’s Art, which is a super cool bar in Baltimore that brews their own beers and does a great job of it.  As we finished our walk to Jong Kak, we noticed outside the restaurant a video camera on a pole.  See pic.  It basically said “Baltimore Police… 24x7… BELIEVE”.  Sort of freaky to watch people on a video camera to improve security, but whatever.

 

Dinner was the highlight of Baltimore.  Jon has had real Korean BBQ once, but it was all new for Rachel.  We ordered a ton of food to try as much as we could.  For meats we got marinated prime rib, 2 kinds of pork, and chicken.  All come raw and they are cooked at your table in your own personal grill in the center of the table.  The staff cooks for you.  You get a dozen or so side dishes with the meat and big pieces of lettuce to make basically Korean burritos…. But without the tortilla, you get lettuce instead.  We ordered a fish head soup hot pot (sort of like Vietnamese Pho) and also a big mixed pot of kim chi, rice and vegetables.  Jon had a “Lite” beer, which looks and tastes just like Miller Lite but is actually called “Hite”.  Like an illegal Korean copy of Miller Lite!!  After our meal we took our time and walked back to the hotel.