First impressions? I love it here. It is beautiful. Raleigh is called the City of Oaks, and there’s a reason for it. There are huge, beautiful oak trees everywhere. It was in the 80’s yesterday, but I didn’t believe it. It was so lovely in the shade of the grand old trees that it seemed impossible to be so warm.
It smells nice here, too. There’s no city funk smell, just a fresh smell, with a little sweetness. We keep getting whiffs of a slightly sweet, fresh smell. We look around and can’t figure out what it is. We did find some honeysuckle last night which definitely was the explanation then, but I’m not sure what it is at other times. It’s a smell I would very much enjoy living with.
We started in Downtown Raleigh yesterday. We got there around 10:30 or so, so given the early hour, the fact that it was a Sunday, and that most people were at church, downtown was dead. It was very pretty though, and oh so quiet!
After checking out downtown for a bit, we hopped in the car to check more stuff out. We were driving down Hillsborough, approaching the State Fair Grounds when I saw a sign stating they have a flea market every Saturday and Sunday. I was all over that! My family and I love flea markets and won’t pass up a chance to check one out. We went in and had a good look around. We didn’t find any treasures, but we were both getting hungry, so we bailed to go search for food.
It took some time, but we eventually ended up back downtown and found a place that was not a chain in a strip mall to eat lunch at. We went to The Big Easyin downtown for some cajun/ creole food. It was good and hit the spot. We had a bite to eat and a couple beers. Before heading out, Alan asked our server where his favorite BBQ joint is. He told us his, went to the kitchen to ask their opinion, and the consensus is a joint on US54 that’s a white building that no one can remember the name of. We’re going on a hunt for it today!
For dinner we headed to the Glenwood neighborhood which is just west of Downtown. There were a bunch of bars and restaurants here and there was a great vibe. It was a Sunday evening, but business was steady everywhere. It was alive, but still pleasantly quiet. We opted for Enotec Vin for dinner. It was excellent! We split an arulga, fennel, and goat cheese salad with a balsamic vinaigrette. I went with a special of the evening – white truffle tagliatelle with rabbit sausage and Alan choose the duck confit with stinging nettle gnocchi. The rabbit sausage was house-made and served more in a more rustic style, a free-formed patty as opposed to an encased link. I preferred the rustic style in which it was served. Man, that was really good food!
I’m digging it here. Looking forward to more exploring today!
