New York, New York!

This past Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday J and I traveled to explore his old stomping grounds in NYC. Here's a photo blog of our favorite spots...

J is a huge Seinfeld fan and so..what better to do than eat at Tom's Restaurant!

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Cyclist in Central Park (J and I walked the whole thing back and forth and up and down).

Autumn colors in Central Park.

Bethesda Fountain, Central Park.

J and I on the Literary Walk, Central Park.

Brooklyn Bridge at sunset. Manhattan side.

Sunset in New York from the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park (a branch of the Met).

View of Tryon Park from the Cloister.

J in Tryon Park.

Enjoying the crunchy leaves!

Loving the green leaves!

At Gray's Papaya, a hot dog joint with fun fruit drinks (I had the coconut "champagne").

American Museum of Natural History.

Triceratops.

Hubble's heartbeat installation in laser on the Hayden Planetarium Sphere.

Grilled portobellos salad, giardiniera spaghetti, and two sangrias, please! At Carmine's...and then trivia at Abbey Pub! 

Cross Street Market/Federal Hill

Today J and I set out to explore another Baltimore neighborhood: Federal Hill...home of the Cross Street Market. At the market one can find fresh produce, seafood, flowers, and other market-type items, as well as a few eateries (specifically one named Nick's). Lucky for J, the special at Nick's was a pound of steamed shrimp. :) For me they had crabcakes! 

After dinner J and I walked over to the hill for which the neighborhood is named. From the top of Federal Hill there is a perfect view of the city and an access to walk all the way back around the Inner Harbor.

 

Steamed crabs for sale at the Cross Street Market.

J and his shrimp.

Best shrimp ever.

I <3 crab cakes.

Statue of Samuel Smith on top of Federal Hill. J and I learned about him at Fort McHenry...he was the one who commanded the defense of Baltimore against the British in the War of 1812.

Baltimore from the south side of the Inner Harbor.

:)

Panorama of downtown Baltimore from the top of Federal Hill. Click to enlarge.

Little Italy...

...or Lil'illy as we've started calling it. :P 

We just took an afternoon and evening to walk around, drink some wine, and eat some amazing food. As an appetizer we had Mozzarella in Carozza (bread stuffed with fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese and bruschetta tomatoes, flour dusted and flash fried and finished with balsamic reduction). J ordered Linguine alla Scoglio (shrimp, scallops, mussels, and clams tossed with linguine in a spicy tomato sauce) and I had the Panzerotti alla Zucca (panzerotti pasta filled with pumpkin, ricotta, cinnamon, nutmeg, and parmesan sauteed with butter and sage then topped with chopped walnuts). It was all fantastically tasty. :)

Welcome to Little Italy!

Night falls...

J in Little Italy.

Osteria D'amadeo, where we went for a pre-dinner drink. Two Pinot Noirs: $6.00 (plus tip!)

La Tavola.

The main course.

La Tavola: detail.

The end of the evening.

Fell's Point

 J and I have our first set of days off work (without travels planned) since we temporarily relocated to Baltimore. We decided that we would make the next three days about Baltimore. We have different places we would like to visit every day and the first was Fell's Point. We took the Water Taxi over (instead of walking) and then visited Koopers Tavern (Grouper Fish N Chips, Beer), The Horse You Came In On Saloon (a Jack Daniels bar/"Baltimore's Original Watering Hole"), Duda's Tavern (crabcakes!!!), and Slainte Irish Pub (we met up with friends...and tried more food).

On the Water Taxi, departing at Canton.

Detail of the road, Fell's Point.

Bond Street Wharf.

J took this shot of me. Fell's Point.

The brilliant fall colors in a small neighborhood park.

Kooper's Pub. Beer sampler and pumpkin pie martini.

The Horse You Came In On Saloon (and their supply of Jack Daniels).

Fell's Point at night. :)

Charm City

One of the streets in our neighborhood,
decked our for Halloween with pumpkin.

J and I have been enjoying our time in Baltimore. Here is a quick bit of photos to show you some of the sights we've been able to scope out (we haven't been around much). We are hoping to spend time in Little Italy, Fell's Point, and other neighborhoods this week since it will be the first period of more than 4 hours at a time we will have in Baltimore since we've moved here temporarily. :P
I will take more when we explore those areas, but for now here's a little taste of our beautiful neighborhood.

Part of the Korean War Memorial
located near the water.

Inner Harbor.

US Frigate Constellation.

The masts of the Constellation.

J: Anchors Away!

Our favorite neighborhood watering hole. ($13.00 steak night!)

Every now and then Jonson (she's so cute!) will be home and J and I steal
her for most of the day to go walking around the neighborhood and the parks.