Norfolk, VA - 05 DEC 2010

I went to Norfolk to have Sunday Brunch at the Freemason Abby Restaurant which is loacated in a 138 year old renovated church...thinking it would have a lovely ambiance, but from where I sat, it was just another restaurant...nothing special; however, the windows in the bar, behind me were nice:The view I really enjoyed was the church across the street, Epworth United Methodist, which has a Romanesque style tower, complete with dog gargoyles or grotesques, I can't tell if they have water spouts.Driving around town, I started to spot mermaids:
Above: The Jewel of Norfolk - Artist: Bess Decker
Below: Flower Garden - Artist: Myke Irvine She's holding a typewriter and has a gavel for a tattoo.
Below: Mujeres del Mar - Artist: Paul S. Baker
Below: Candybar - Artist: Ben Teague (notice the bite mark on the tail)
The Mermaids on Parade has been going on for 10 years.
Tinky Winky enjoyed the Hampton Roads Naval Museum.
They even had a model cannon, just his size:
There was a lot of information about the Battle of the Ironclads which took place nearby. The Monitor and the Merrimac (first iron clad ships) battled for over 4 hours at a range so close that they collided 5 times. It ended in a standstill with only slight damage to either ship but it changed history forever as wooden battle ships were never built after that encounter in 1862.
The Moses Myer House (circa 1797) is a very unique museum as it is filled with original furnishings. Owned by a prosperous Jewish family and passed down through several generations, it was one of the first brick homes built in Norfolk after the Revolutionary War.
During the 2004 restoration, real gold gilding was discovered under many layers of paint on the drawing room mantle.
Not only was furniture built for this room...as the shot below shows, room was built around it.
The Hampton Visitors Center has the Hampton History Museum in the same building. Across the street is St John's Episcopal Church, founded in 1610, it is the oldest English-speaking parish in America.
This structure is the 1728 worship building, displaying colonial brickwork.
Their slogan is "Fightin' Sins Since 1610."
It was very cold and starting to get dark when I came out of the museum so I didn't have time to read the cemetery markers.