Brat Haus Santa Barbara

New thing today, tried the Brat Haus in Santa Barbara. It's on State Street and who doesn't love Brats? Well this place caught our eye and we decided to try it out. I got the Hoffman Brat with cooked sauerkraut and caramelized onions, husband got the Beer Brat with sweet peppers. We shared the fries. 

The fries were thick cut, fat and undercooked. Not my favorite and I wouldn't get them again.

My Brat was pretty good. It tasted better with just the sauerkraut, although the caramelized onions were delish as well, I took those out and had them on the side, and I liked the Brat with just the sauerkraut.

Husband's Brat was very good as well!

Overall not a bad place, but not a great on either. I think a beer would have made these Brats much tastier so maybe next time I'll try it with a cold brew. I liked my husband's Beer Brat better than my Hoffman Brat. Not the tastiest place we've been in Santa Barbara, but passes as alright in my book. They do have Belgium Waffles, so it's probably worth another pass and trying some different menu items. 

Santa Barbara Courthouse & Public Library

New things today, went to the Santa Barbara Courthouse & Public Library. We sort of unexpectedly ran into them. We were just planning on going to State Street and walk around, when we parked at some random parking lot which sort of landed us right next to both locations.

We left the parking lot and saw the Santa Barbara Library. So cool so decided to walk in. They have a Faulkner wing and when we went it was a gallery filled with what looked like local art. Inside it was half modern and half old world bookshelves. It was cute and I would gladly spend a respite from shopping there in the future. Looked like a super cozy bookshop inside.

Then right next to this, we saw this huge tower with people looking out into the city. So decided to check that out too. It was this gorgeous old Spanish architecture building, with beautiful grounds and a huge tower. Turned out it was the Santa Barbara Courthouse and what we first saw was the Observation Tower. Weird thing is, we've been to Santa Barbara quite a few times and never saw this building before, but its been there forever so it was an exciting first!

It was gorgeous! It was absolutely awesome inside and out. The grounds were so pretty, and the tower had fantastic views of Santa Barbara. We went when there was gorgeous light and it was a beautiful day. It was truly truly awesome! I loved the mosaic tiles throughout the building. There was this great spiral staircase and just the doors, the borders around the doors, the floors, ceilings, everything was really really beautiful. This could be one of my favorite buildings. Best of all, it's free to go inside and wander around. We're going to go there again, and I will take snippets of photos from the internet and post them down here, but it's quite a photographers paradise :) I love this building and Spanish architecture - very cool.

A panoramic view

Main Courthouse

Inner Courtyard & Grounds (pic doesn't do it justice, it's so much more pretty)

A Mural

The Spiral Staircase