Philly walkabout

After a well-rested night and a very lazy morning, we got ready for brunch at the famed 9th street Italian Market.

First stop was Sabrina's, a well reviewed establishment located on 910 Christian Street... it was madness.. it was about 10am when we arrived and there was a huge crowd of at least 20+ people in line! Just the thing for foodies so we decided that it could be well worth the wait. Of course, we had a good look at the food being served and oh my, they were very hearty and indeed delectable!! We left our names at the registry and got a card. The wait should be about an hour or so they say. So we decided to explore a little to while away the time.

At the start of 9th street, we saw this sign. The whole street was flanked by streets of definite Italian spellings and really, indefinite meanings.

Di Bruno Brothers was really packed but I had to go in for a peek. It was an eye-opener indeed.. with loads of handmade pasta in shapes and sizes that I had never seen before.  (ok so I had seen some in Culina's back in Singapore)...

The below, I believe, was huge slabs of cheese.

Jars and jars of capers and pickles and peppers.

And then we decided to take a morning coffee break and chanced upon this little nondescript cafe. Which had the most amazing chocolate croissant. Thin crusts of crumbling pastry that is crisp yet suitably moistened with choc filling that wasn't too overtly caramelized. It was heavenly. Literally 'eyes-lit-up-after-first-bite' kinda reaction from the both of us.

Never to spoil an excellent first impression, we were disciplined not to order extras...

Sharing gelato.

 

Finally! Found a pic of that marvelous cafe...

And so, the young one was captivated by the flurry of waitstaff fussing around a leaking aircon unit that was right above the doorway. It was as fascinating watching her so enthralled with something so simple and mundane. The daddy just looked bored and of course, I bet he was thinking why a simple task required more than 1 person to execute - as always lovingly in character.

And so we headed back to Sabrina's. I'm obviously not a good photographer but like all things nicely vintage-d.

Best-tasting salad I'd tried since coming to the USA!
We cabbed it to the Museum of Art - here we were admiring the view from the top of the hill where it housed the Phladephia Museum of Art. K checked out a wedding reception at one of the foot hills.

And we moved on to the Philadelphia Museum of the Art, there was a Renoir exhibition which we were tempted. However entrance fees were madness, I would prefer seeing a collection of Impressionists paintings versus a particular artist and the day was beautiful so we skipped it, choosing instead to gallivant on the steps of the museum, ala Rocky Plus, I haven't done much reading on Renoir so the visit may not stick in my head.

Here, lil K attempted to climb up the infamous Rocky steps.

Spent but satisfied.

Little children soaked wet from jumping into the fountains across the road - running rampant up the rocky steps screaming and laughing.

Here we took a picture together with the sculpture of Sylvester Stallone in his portrayal of Rocky. But Kaylen at 2 months 8 months got really scared and started clinging to me like clingwrap.

Just Paul taking a break....And then lil K joins the daddy on the steps. See her cheeky expression!

We moved on to a notable restaurant in Chinatown since Philalphia's was supposed to be pretty decent. Well, more decent that what we had tried in Dallas really.

Accolades adorned the entrance. Oh well, to their credit, most of them were recent ones from the '00s.

Lil K still munching on her fortune cookie after dinner. Dinner was alright - dingy interior, cheesy fittings like red lanterns, dynastic paintings and old wooden carved partitions. The crowd is a mixture of cushy folks of various races. Food and price-wise I would say, equivalent to Singapore's Crystal Jade fare at double the price? ;)

I am glad that in many ways while Paul and I are so different, we do share the same beliefs on how our holidays should be like - i.e. free and easy, taking our time in taking in the sights, ensuring a good mix of good restaurant and street fare alike, skipping touristy attractions that just take too much time away from enjoying the vibe of the places we visit. Oh yes, we do believe in reading up a little about the history of the place as well just so we can impress each other with little useless snippets of information now and then!