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YOU'RE BALTIMORE BOUND!
SO YOU'RE BOUND TO NEED DIVERSIONS!

Diversions, Inc. is an award-winning, multi-faceted touring company that is guaranteed to make your visit to Baltimore a memorable one. We have been customizing special events and spouse programs since 1978. Our client list speaks for itself!

The stunning renaissance of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor has been recognized and celebrated throughout the country. But, Baltimore’s excitement extends far beyond Harbor Place. Ours is a city with a rich historic past and a vibrant present. We boast "The Star Spangled Banner," the first railroad station in the United States, the most successful $1.00 Homesteading Program in the United States, the largest collection of Matisse paintings in the world, and, of course...steamed crabs!

Let Diversions, Inc. showcase Baltimore for you!
We provide:

• Highly-trained Guides who are not only knowledgeable, but who add a pinch of "Baltimore Spice," telling "the real scoop" and the chatty behind-the-scenes tales of local luminaries while touring the city
• The best docents for private tours of museum exhibitions
• Access to private clubs for luncheons, dinners, galas, and golf outings
• Tours with special insight into the surrounding metropolitan areas of Annapolis, MD, Washington, DC, Virginia, and the Brandywine Valley of Delaware
• Great seating for concerts and theatrical productions in all the cultural venues within the Baltimore/Washington area
• Entree to private homes, art collections, gardens
• Round-trip transportation via deluxe motorcoach (with video capability)
• Gourmet meals, including cocktails and hors d’oeuvres served aboard coach

And what makes a "Diversion" so special? After nearly two decades of making just the right contacts and arranging the most extraordinary experiences, Diversions has elevated event planning to an art form! We anticipate the needs, wishes, and interests of our clients, then package our plans in the most creative fashion. Meticulous attention to details and the elegant touches on every excursion have become our hallmark.
Now that we’re acquainted, only one question remains...

Why not let Diversions provide unique touring experiences for your convention?
We look forward to the pleasure of working with you!
Below you will find sample "diversions" your group may enjoy!

PRIVATE PLACES, SPECIAL SPACES

                                             
                                       Today’s tour returns you to Baltimore's most elegant era. Traveling via fashionable Charles Street, home to some of the most exciting shops, interesting galleries and important cultural institutions, we stop first at Mount Vernon Place.  Site of the first monument to George Washington, this is where Baltimore's greatest philanthropists lived and where the original cobblestone streets and architecturally perfect mansions still exist.  Visit the Library of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, one of the leading music schools in the nation.  With ornate cast iron balconies soaring six stories around a central Reading Room, the library presents one of the most dramatic interior spaces in town. 
          Next, you’re invited for a private tour of what is considered to be the largest, the most imposing, and the costliest town house ever built in Baltimore. Designed by Stanford White and John Russell Pope, the Engineering Society of Baltimore is three houses made into one. Now a private club, it was originally the creation of Mary Frick Garrett, the grande dame of her day and all-controlling of the social world in Baltimore. Her 40-room residence contains a carved wooden spiral stairway, Tiffany glass windows, and a roofed conservatory. Understandably, this property has become a favorite of Hollywood productions, including Diner, 12 Monkeys, and Her Alibi. 
              Lunch will be enjoyed in one of Baltimore’s fine restaurants. After lunch we “drop in” at Evergreen House, named one of the top ten tourist attractions to open in the United States in 1990. This grand mansion has recently been restored to its original glory. Built in the 1850's in the classic revival style, Evergreen House is a testament to the unusual and the elegant lives and tastes of three generations of Garretts, scions of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Our private docent tour will include the former bowling alley turned into a gallery for Japanese and Chinese Arts, the gymnasium converted into a theater and decorated by the renowned Russian artist Leon Bakst and the fine art collection.
         We end today’s travels with a glimpse "behind closed doors."  Diversions has arranged a special visit to the private home of a serious collector.  Antique ceramics are her main interest and displays include Quimper, American Stoneware and Spongeware. Quimper is brightly colored, it is as charming as this collection is extensive. Furnished in a mixture of country French and American furniture, this gracious house has a warm and relaxed atmosphere.   Our hostess will personally conduct the tour and give us some points on starting a collection.
                

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 ANNAPOLIS, MD: A CAPITAL TREAT

        History comes alive in the charming city of Annapolis, Maryland's state capital, designated a National Historic landmark in 1965. As the seat of state government, political maneuvering is the major “sport” of congressmen and lobbyists, but, to everyone else, Annapolis is a mecca for pleasure boating, attracting yachtsmen from all over the world.
       Our gracious guide, dressed in colonial garb, meets us at St. John's College, Francis Scott Key's alma mater.  Dividing us into small groups, the guide recreates a bygone era on a leisurely walking tour, traversing the same streets as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
    We pass authentically restored eighteenth century houses on the way to the State House where George Washington resigned his commission. Then we visit the United States Naval Academy, whose imposing buildings occupy over 300 acres along the Severn River.  We might catch a glance of some midshipmen (and women), dressed in their starched white uniforms on our way to view the Chapel, the crypt of John Paul Jones and Bancroft Hall, the dormitory for all students at the Academy.
    Luncheon will be enjoyed in the Officers’ Club at the Naval Academy. After lunch, there will be some time to wander along Maryland Avenue, a haven for those who love antiques, boutiques and art galleries. In the bustling waterfront area, world -class yachts are usually moored at City Dock .

“Behind Closed-Doors”
Celebrity Georgetown &  
Marjorie Merriweather Post’s  Hillwood  

The ears of the rich, the powerrful, and the famous will surely be burning today! We’ve arranged for a celebrated writer and Washington insider to lead you on a “chatty” walking/riding excursion through star studded Georgetown, a neighborhood filled with houses belonging to celebrities, politicians, media, famous authors and the ruling elite. She will give us the “low-down” on the homes, their famous and infamous owners, their favorite restaurants and watering holes. Not a secret remains after this no-holds-barred, unabashed, tell-all celebrity tour.
    We then travel to Hillwood, the lavish estate of flamboyant cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. Upon arrival, lunch will be enjoyed in the delightful café. Following lunch, we’ve arranged  for a docent-led tour of this incredible mansion, dubbed “The Hermitage of the West” by none other than the director of Russia’s renowned Hermitage Museum. After an introductory film narrated by Dina Merrill, Mrs. Post’s daughter, we move on to the house which contains arguably the most extensive collection of 18th-and 19th-century imperial Russian decorative arts outside that country, including porcelains, glass, silver and jewel-studded objects, many of them by jeweler Carl Fabergé. There is even an 1884 diamond-encrusted crown worn by Empress Alexandra when she wed Nicholas II. The elegant backdrop of fine English and French furniture, tapestries and paintings appear as if frozen in time while Mrs. Post entertained visiting dignitaries and heads of state.
    Following the tour, you’ll have time to stroll through gardens of various styles, including formal entry, woodland, rose, friendship and Japanese - all meticulously tended. Ornate carvings in the French parterre, with its mazelike shrubbery, were restored by a stone carver from the Washington Cathedral, and rare orchids and tulips have been replanted in their original locations. Then, be sure to take time to browse and shop in the lovely Gift Shop.
   

CALL : 410-486-3604 ;  FAX: 410-486-4159;  
 or E-MAIL : trips@diversionsinc.com
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