This morning got off to a late start (honestly, why this surprises anyone any longer is beyond me) but we got up, got dressed, and made our way to Sabrina’s at 910 Christian St. It was kind of a long walk for breakfast, considering we live in the first world. My sister and mother were still not hip to the idea of taking a cab, in spite of it being my initials.
After walking 1.7mi for breakfast, we then proceeded to wait 45min for seats. But, man oh man was it worth it! I ordered huevos rancheros, a traditional rural Mexican breakfast (or so I’m told) consisting of tortillas, ranchero sauce, two fried eggs, sour cream, avocado, and a bullied jalapeno.
Emily had Challah French toast stuffed with ricotta and mascarpone and smothered in real maple syrup. The French toast was one of the richest dishes I’ve had since my last blog, but it was absolutely amazing. Completely worth the walk and wait. The huevos rancheros did not disappoint. Mom’s steak was tough, so she just had some of ours.
After breakfast, we hiked back about 4 blocks and caught a cab up to the Barnes Foundation gallery. Established a long time ago, Dr. Albert Coombs Barnes invented a silver-based antiseptic that was used to treat or prevent neonatal conjunctival infections in the pre-antibiotic era. Based on the gallery that he acquired and then donated, he made a lot of money on it. There were 181 Renoirs, which is a Seurat-load! Also, there was a statue of the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ-child, which I was going to complain about because I’m offended by that kind of thing, but then I realized that the social media backlash of over-defensive Christian breast-feeding mothers would have been relentless. So I did what I always do, I judged silently.
We actually got a little over-cultured there. After powering-through that museum, we made our way to the Rodin museum. Famous for his sculpture, The Thinker, Rodin was an extremely meticulous and accomplished sculpter, often insulting his subjects by measuring them and over-analyzing them, at least until they saw the final product. Every subject has been universally satisfied with the exception of Pope Pius XV who refused to admit he was wrong citing Papal Infallibility. It was unanimous that this was the best museum we set foot in this trip. Additionally, he sculpted “The Gates of Hell”, of which, The Thinker was a part, top-center in fact. He ended up casting it alone first.
Next, we tried to go to The Franklin Institute, which is really just a children’s science museum. Less cool.
On the way back we stopped at another coffee shop, this was called La Colombe, which is French for bitter and unpleasant. It was snooty like the one prior. I seriously do not understand the problem with syrups. The espresso was sour and the lattes were unflavored. Will not return snark.
So we headed back to Parc and instead found a nice little place called Rouge. Mom was concerned (understandably) because after we sat and ordered drinks, we looked about and realized that the place looked like the inside of Austin Powers’ jet. For all the satin drapes and velvet furniture, the food was actually quite nice. We shared lamb meatballs, fries with parmesan and truffle oil (Philly was all about the truffle oil), roasted beets, and Mom had a salad. Overall, the food was very nice but I don’t have any specifics for you because I’m writing this well over a week after having returned.
Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel, grabbed our luggage, and got a cab back to the airport. At this point, we showed up at the airport about 4 hours early which was either because we ran out of things to do or because my mother wanted to teach me a lesson from the last trip to the airport. The flight back was uneventful except insofar as no Imitrexes were split.
I think I would summarize the trip thusly: would have been better had any one of the three of us planned anything at all and we shouldn’t have had to walk so much. Next time I’m renting an automobile.
In the comments section: please post suggestions for where you think we should vacation next. Maybe we’ll take your suggestions into account. Please only include places that are vanilla latte-friendly!
Dining With Dr. Baltes 
I’m surprised Emily’s epic snore didn’t make the blog! A like the term “Seraut load” by the way.
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I like The Gates of Hell. Dante and Rodin made quite a pair and quite an impression. The sculpture in which Emily is (once again) hamming it up is actually called “The Three Shades” (shade being ghost). The three identical figures represent death, sleep, and loss of consciousness and they sit atop The Gates of Hell to “draw attention to the scenes of damnation unfolding below.” The allegory is superb and the forthright way of depicting Hell (putting names and faces and acts on it) is lost in today’s world. For me, The Three Shades seem to be well-known visitors.
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