Tour de Baltimore Details

After weeks of planning and scheming, I’ve got the schedule for this Friday and Saturday’s Tour de Baltimore. Both of the days’ schedules will be quite similar, although the Saturday schedule will include a trip to the Book Thing, which is only open on weekends. I am including links to each of the places we will visit, so that you will have a general idea of where we are heading.

Here’s the general schedule. The only time that is firm is the starting time, and as we move through the day, we can be very flexible.

• 9:00 to 9:30 – Meet at DeBois Textiles. This is just off the Washington Boulevard of I-95 north. I will have coffee and donuts there for everyone. They will be opening early for the group. There is plenty of free parking at DeBois and since we will probably carpool, you may leave your car there or at Housewerks, our next stop. They’re getting in a shipment of fabrics this week, so there will be lots of new yardages for everyone to see and buy. Also, they have a massive selection of vintage clothes.
• Housewerks – From DeBois, we will head a few blocks to Housewerks Architectural Antiques to see their fabulous collection of goods. They just took apart a convent in Pennsylvania and have lots of interesting artifacts from Catholic Schools in the 1960’s to 1990’s. 
• From Housewerks, we will head uptown to Gore Dean, one of my favourite shops in Baltimore. Everything here is a treasure, from the fabulous china and crystal, to the amazing antiques.  There is a Starbucks in the center in case anyone is desperate for coffee at that point.
• We will then head south on Falls Road to the quirky neighbourhood of Hampden where there are several great home decorating shops, including Red Tree with its organic and hand made items, and The Antique Exchange with their classical taste. We will stop for lunch at one of the area’s restaurants, most likely, Cafe Hon, an essential Baltimore place to eat!
• On Friday, we will head downtown to McLain Wiesand, to see what great items David Wiesand has in stock. David’s range includes antiques and hand-crafted furniture. On Saturday, David will be opening the shop specially for the group, and we will probably go there after we visit Housewerks. Don’t forget to check out David’s blog, here.
• On Saturday, we will head to the Book Thing and then go on to McLain Wiesand. As you might know, all of the books at Book Thing are FREE! As many as you want. All FREE.

Some more details:

• Please e-mail me and let me know which day you’re coming and how many there will be. In the interest of being “green” we might carpool, so if you drive a mini-van, bring it! 
• The tour should wrap up mid-afternoon on both days, but we will try especially hard to finish by 3:00 on Friday, so you can avoid the rush-hour traffic.
• There is no cost for the tour. I am just happy to show people around the treasures of Baltimore.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday or Saturday. Cross thumbs for great weather!