Baltimore's not a bad town. It does have it's share of dirt and sometimes the smells are unique. But that's only from all the crab shells left lying out in the sun during the summertime.

Baltimore was once referred to as a tired old town. But she's my tired old town and everybody's got to be from somewhere.

Lot of great memories for me from the blue-collar characters, rowhouses, and unpretentiousness of its denizens.

I will concur on the trash can comment. Except for the Inner Harbor...where the surroundings are usually kept clean.

We had a mayor named William Donald Schaefer once who put signs on all the public trash cans and did a very entertaining PR campaign in the 70's called 'Trash Ball'.

The public responded so well that the cans got filled and overflowed before the garbagemen could get around to emptying them.

As for Romania...never been there...but I doubt if they have delicious steamed crabs like 'Bawlamer'.

Bob