Spring is always a glorious time to visit Baltimore, but this year the return of baseball and patio seasons take on special meaning after months of hibernation amid the coronavirus pandemic. Many of the city's museums, restaurants, and attractions have reopened and are eager to welcome back visitors from near and far. Whether itâs your first trip to Baltimore or your twentieth, the waterfront city is full of surprises, from an alley that honors graffiti artists to watering holes in handsome rowhouses. Perhaps a poem by Kondwani Fidel, used in the cityâs tourism campaign, said it best when it invited visitors to go âBeneath the Shell." The reference, to cracking open the cityâs famous Maryland blue crabs, is a metaphor for discovering Baltimoreâs below-the-surface gems. "Once you open the crab, you get hit with a blast of flavor," the poem reads. âAll that goodness can happen only under one condition: you have to crack the crab."