Philly - Breakfast and Murals

One day in the middle of December Rebecca and I made a trip to Philly.  She's told me several times how much she had wanted to see the city so as a Christmas gift we booked a few nights on AirBnB and made our way east on the Pennsylvania turnpike.  The trip was a busy one as we only had a few days in the city of Brotherly Love.  It was filled with:  food, art, walking, more food, and more art.  Most importantly, and this goes into the food category, she got the opportunity to experience a genuine Philly Cheesesteak.  She's a Pat's gal.  I'm a Tony Luke's guy.  But, there will be more on that to come.  

On one of our first days she found a great breakfast spot called Sabrina's Cafe.  A quaint cafe which supposedly had good coffee.  I can't vouch, I'm not a coffee drinker.  However, the food was amazing.  I had "The Cure for Hunger" Breakfast special - Cheddar cornbread topped with hot Italian sausage, bell peppers, onions, chilies and home fries finished with a mango-melon BBQ jam.  Good.  Rebecca's breakfast stole the spotlight though.  She had "No Sanctuary" Special Stuffed French Toast.  It was some sort of special bread stuffed with sweet cream cheese, apples, apricots, candied walnuts and other yummy, tasty treats topped in a berry-honey syrup.  We easily could have shared.  Of course, we didn't.  No leftovers either...

After breakfast we made our way back towards the center of town stopping at a few murals along the way.  The city of Philly has maps with routes for the Mural Walks.  There were 2 separate routes and I believe each was under 2 miles.  So, we got to see a ton of murals (PDF of Mural Walk - Map).  So, here are a few of the photos from the day...

(Sabrina's Cafe - Best Brunch in Philly)

(There were quite a few chalkboards up inside the restaurant - rather enjoyed this one in particular)

(Part of the menu - Brunch specials)

("The Cure for Hunger")

("No Sanctuary" Special Stuffed French Toast)

(A quaint little cafe)

(Never Floss with Strangers)

(Sweet Bike Lock - too bad it didn't do much good...)

(The murals begin...)

(Animal mural outside the animal shelter)

(One of my favorites because of the extra dimensions)

(Same mural, because it was really big, at a different angle)

(Pixelated impressionist mural)

(Hot dogs and a finger pointer)

(For Fido - fun dog treat snack station we passed on our walk)

(May the Force be With You as well)

(GHOSTS EXIST!!!)

(A Family Feast)

(Just to give you an idea of the scale)

("Pride and Progress")

(More "Pride and Progress")

(Even more murals)

(Philadelphia Muses)

(Some wacky stuff on the side of a building)

(Perhaps my favorite because of the texture)

(The texture...)

Baltimore Part II

Our second day in Baltimore was pretty low key.  We woke up and headed back to Fell's Point for some breakfast.  After breakfast we went back to the boat to hang out for a bit.  Doriel decided to take us on a little cruise on his motor boat.  We passed by Fort McHenry, home of the Star Spangled Banner, cruised around a bit while Doriel did some fishing, and finished off the tour at Inner Harbor.  Here are a few of the photos from our adventure.  

(Beer car again in a little different light)

(Nice little photo as we made our way back to Fell's Point)

(Thames Street early on a Sunday Morning)

(Thought it was rather interesting the way these tree roots formed to the environment)

(Passed a pirate ship of sorts...)

(Doriel getting the boat ready for our cruise)

(Captain making sure everything is in order)

('Let the Good Time's Roll' was the name of the boat we stayed on...)

(Passed a few Navy vessels and the word big doesn't even begin to describe their size)

(Fort McHenry)

(Another shot of the Fort with part of the harbor in the background)

(More mamooth ships)

(That building is probably 2 stories tall, if not bigger)

(Old dock)

(Myself, first mate - my father, and the captain - Doriel)

(View of Inner Harbor as we approached)

(Submarine you can tour if you feel so inclined to do so while staying in Baltimore)

Baltimore Part I

A few months ago my dad had some work to do down around the Baltimore area so Rebecca and I tagged along for a chance to explore the city.  We ended up staying with my dad's friend Doriel on a houseboat in Fell's Point which was a wonderful experience in and of itself.  We also got a chance to see a tiny bit of the city and do some exploring around Fell's Point.  Seeing as how it was so long ago, it's hard for me to remember details but I'll try to add some commentary on the photos.  

 (View of the Marina)

 (This was the house boat that we slept on)

(Pops and I having a little chit chat before him and his buddy went golfing)

 (Rebecca going for a ride...)

 (The car was crafted from beer memorabilia)

 (I was told to act like a crab and so I did)

 (Random window photo)

(View on Thames Street)

(Old Man sitting on a bench with some pigeons around)

 (The Greene Turtle - This establishment came highly recommended from a friend.  However, we went in around noon the place was dead.  So, we moved on to a different place.)

(This was another place we stopped in to check out but decided to keep on moving - did like the stickers on the door!)

 (Harrisburg has cows and I guess Baltimore has beer cars)

(So about half way through the day we decided to stop at a coffee shop and warm up.  For quite some time we'd been talking about playing Cards Against Humanity.  Well, while we were in the coffee shop I noticed the game Apples to Apples.  There were 2 students sitting there studying so I asked if they wanted to play Apples to Apples.  The one mentioned she had Cards Against Humanity sitting in her apartment right across the street.  So, we said sure why not?  We also added 2 other members to the group and played Cards Against Humanity with 4 strangers - had a blast!)

 (Here's Looking at You... fun coffee mug)

(My dad's buddy Doriel)

 (I guess he was feeling like Superman or the need to pose like Superman)

 (Thames Street at night and The Cat's Eye Pub)

 (This guy was the bouncer and noticed the camera and felt the need to take some photos)

 (So we took a few photos)

 (Not sure what was happening here...)

 (The 3 amigos before we headed back to the boat)

 (The dock leading the way back to the houseboat)

(View of the marina at night)