Trip to Philadelphia

A month ago - in mid April - I took a trip to Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, the place were Independence was declared, and were the constitution was signed. As some of you might remember, last year on my way back from New york, I was bumped from my flight and got a free ticket. Since this ticket was expiring, I had to make a decision what to do. It is funny, that you always wish for free airline tickets, but the reality is quite different. When to go, who watches the kids, where to go, after all, you still have to pay for a hotel etc. So when my friend Jen mentioned she wanted to visit her friend Kirsten, who lived back East between New York City and Philadelphia, we made it a trip. And what it trip it was. We entered a whole new universe. While the weekend brought snow and ice rain to Seattle, we had 90 F in Philly. It was glorious. We left on a Thursday night on the red-eye and arrived in Philadelphia via Washington, D.C., on Friday morning. We immediately had to shed the fleece and put on shorts and sandals. A train took us downtown and dropped us off right at City Hall where our hotel was located. We were able to check in early and freshen up.

One of our first impressions of Philadelphia was, how friendly everyone is. People great each other on the street and smile. Everyone seems to be ready to help. Now the fabulous weather might have had a part in that. Another thing was, that the Pennsylvania primary was only a few days away and people were out in drones to champagne for Hillary or Obama. It was quite interesting to watch people getting into arguments. We would have been able to see Obama that evening, but after an overnight flight, a whole day in the heat, we were just not ready to face a crowed of 30.000 people in front of Independence Hall. It would have been nice thou.

Another great thing about Philadelphia is, the the downtown area is the right size for walking everywhere. Off course it helps when the hotel is located in the center of everything. And the walking would have been of the utmost pleasure, had it not been my first heat exposure and the first time wearing my sandals this year. In the early afternoon my feet were oozing liquids of the various kinds. (I think from that standpoint 60s, sweater, and sneakers would have been just fine.) The first placed we walked to was Rittenhouse Square, a city park surrounded by trendy shopping and eateries. Lunch was on our mind and when it said on the outside of a bistro "wine - bread - cheese - coffee" we knew we had found a place for us. A little bit of afternoon shopping was not bad either. After a little nap be walked towards the Philadelphia Art Museum and climbed up the famous stairs. Since my feet were bleeding, I was not able to run like Rocky, but the view was still nice. We continued past the museum along the Schuylkill River in the late afternoon sun.

On Saturday morning we headed in the opposite direction towards Independence Square. We had reservations for the 9.30 tour of Independence Hall, but were able to get in on the earlier tour. Here they show you the two main rooms; the first is the original Supreme Court and the other one is the room where the Declaration of Independence was agreed upon and signed and later the Constitution discussed and signed. One of the original pieces still there, is George Washington's Chair. We spent quite a historical morning walking through the oldest part of town, seeing the Betsy Ross house and walking through Elfreth Alley, a well preserved little residential street, that gives you an idea about housing in past centuries. We walked towards Penn's Landing and along the Delaware past the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the Society Hill neighborhood. We loved the architecture, with all the red brick buildings. Philadelphia has done a great job to require newer buildings to fit with the style of the old ones. We headed along South Street towards Washington Square and got to see more of the current Philadelphia and not just the tourist showcase areas. Our last stop in the early afternoon was the Reading market, an underground market under what is now the convention Center. The market is considered one of the best food markets in the U.S. Endless amounts of local produce is brought in. We saw a lot of Amish farm offerings like dairy, meat, or preserved fruits and vegetables. I never found my pigs stomach, but I guess, for that you need to go out into the countryside.

In the afternoon we took a train out to Jen's friend Kirsten, who lives in Yardley, which is on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware right by Washington's crossing, across from Trenton (Jersey). I was fascinated by the countryside and the little towns. It reminded me a bit of the English countryside with all the brick and stone houses. This was my first time (besides Manhattan last year) to the East coast and I have to say, that this part of the country seemed very different from what I have seen out here in the West, the Southwest or the South.

We had a great time with Kirsten and her family. We visited the little town of New Hope, did some shopping and explored the "Washington Crossing State Park". Like always the trip was much to short and on Monday evening we got back to Seattle. I definitely want to explore that part of the country more, but give it some time, until the girls are older, so they can appreciate the history.