Day 4 of S&K's Philly Adventure

Before I start, I need to make an announcement...

This is my 150th blog post! 

Holy cow.

Now that my mind is sufficiently blown, allow me to walk you through Day 4 of Stacey & Kate's Philly Adventure.

By this point in the trip, I had officially 100% fallen in love with Philadelphia. I was mad crushing before, but looking at the city again through tourist glasses made me realize how lucky I am to live here. I was pumped for another day of exploration.

Anyone want to buy me this for Christmas?

Like any good explorers, we had to make sure we started the day well nourished; so we walked to a popular brunch place in Philly called Sabrina's Cafe. The route to the University City location (the area of Philly where we live) took us right through Penn's campus so Stacey got to wonder in its beauty. And she shot this pic of Joe and me:

That's right! Joe graced us with his presence again for brunch! But he sadly had to get back to the books right after, so Stacey and I bid him farewell and headed toward our first stop: the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Now, I have a confession to make. I hate art museums. They bore me to tears. I really wish that I liked them because I feel like it would make me more cultured, but I just don't get the appeal. Luckily, we weren't stopping there for the art (especially because a ticket is $20!). Instead, we were going because that's where the famous Rocky stair scene was filmed!

Ya, it's been a while since I watched the movie (and also apparently can't look behind me for a reminder). This is clearly more of a flex pose than a celebratory pose. Haha.

Following our trip to the steps (which Stacey ran up and I slowly ascended), we headed to Eastern State Penitentiary. For those of you familiar with Alcatraz, it's similar. Only it's not surrounded by water. And it hasn't been preserved well.

***Side Note*** When Joe and I visited Philly for his interview exactly one year ago this month (wow - mind blown again!), Eastern State Penitentiary was one of the few sights we had time to see. I was excited to go because it's supposedly haunted and they also host one of the best haunted houses in the country every fall. Though we didn't do the haunted house (Joe hates them), the audio tour of the prison was awesome and very creepy ***End of Side Note***

A little bit about ESP from their website:

"Eastern State Penitentiary was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world, but stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cell blocks and empty guard towers.
Known for its grand architecture and strict discipline, this was the world’s first true “penitentiary,” a prison designed to inspire penitence, or true regret, in the hearts of convicts."

Since I had somewhat recently visited and taken the audio tour, my focus was on taking photos. You see, this time last year when I visited I only had my iPhone. Now I have my fancy camera that I got for Christmas.

***Side Note*** Disclaimer (again): Yes, I have a fancy camera. Yes, I took expensive classes to learn to use it. No, I don't remember anything I learned. No, I haven't practiced using anything but auto-mode. No, I don't know how to use any type of photo editing software - what you see is all camera. ***End of side note***

Who wants to tour an old prison? ME ME ME!!!!

I hate when people are in my pics, so here's one cutting them out. Looks MUCH creepier :)

What the cells would have looked like

What they look like after the place was neglected for 20+ years.

What Al Capone's cell looked like, just as a comparison. Stacey said it looks very Tower of Terror. She was SO RIGHT.

One of the cell blocks

More ruins

Gate for the medical wing

Beautiful destruction

Starting to wonder if we're safe walking around here ;)

Love that guard tower

Seriously love it

After Eastern State Penitentiary, we went back to Reading Terminal Market. We didn't have much time when we went there on Thursday (we were rushing a warm cheesesteak home for Joe), and we wanted to have a chance to explore some more, try some famous Philly ice cream, and take some photos.

Reading Terminal Market is home to 80 merchants, some Amish! (see Lancaster County Farm Fresh photo). You can buy cheesteaks, ice cream, meat, produce, fish, spices, kitchenware, cookbooks, candy, baked goods, etc. I bought some candy and beef jerky for Joe, and Stacey bought some Amish cookies and jellies. 

I had heard about it before, but never had a chance to visit. Now that I have, it's a must-do for any of my friends or family who visit us! I'm already planning to do a lot of Christmas shopping there...

As the day came to a close, we headed home and Joe ran out to grab us some burgers from Bobby's Burger Palace for dinner. We ended the night with burger-filled bellies, watching Dr. 90210. A perfect last night :)

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Day 3 of S&K's Philly Adventure - With a Special Appearance by JOE

Last Friday was a true dream day for me: shopping at the largest mall in America, a delicious dinner, and a ghost tour!

Stacey and I left Friday morning for King of Prussia, which is about 30-60 minutes away depending on traffic and the route you take. We took the scenic route on the pretense that I wanted Stacey to see some smaller towns and more of Pennsylvania's "natural beauty" along the back roads. The real reason was that I was petrified to drive the rental car we are using while my car is getting its boo-boos fixed, and most certainly did not want to try it out on the freeway.

She totally called my bluff ;)

Boy were we glad we took those back roads. It was a GORGEOUS fall day, complete with trees releasing their colorful leaves on the car as we drove along. I'm kicking myself for not getting pictures.

When we reached King of Prussia mall, we were met with a whole different kind of beauty. A mall so large it couldn't be contained to one building. Yes, there were TWO giant malls ripe for the shopping. And shop we did!

After a few hours of shopping (and a quick cheesesteak break), we hit up some other stores in the area and then headed home. Joe was getting out of class at 5, and planned to take the night off to join us for dinner and then a ghost tour of Old City.

The original dinner plan was to go to City Tavern (which is HAUNTED and would have been a perfect start to our spooky night). Unfortunately, shopping took longer than expected and even though I DROVE HOME ON THE FREEWAY (cue the fanfare), it would have been too tight to try to make our reservation.

Instead, we hit up Distrito: an awesome tapas restaurant owned by Iron Chef Jose Garces (and very close to our apartment). For the second time that day, I was a moron and didn't take pictures. I blame it on the two margaritas...

With full bellies, we made our way to Old City via the subway (my first time using it in Philly) and met up with our tour guide just in time for her to point me in the direction of an open bathroom (once again, I blame it on the margaritas). The tour was by a company Stacey found called Free Tours By Foot. True to its name, you don't pay anything for the tour upfront. Instead, at the end you just tip your guide based on how much you enjoyed yourself. A pretty sweet concept.

The tour was awesome, and we heard a lot of spooky stories. For the first time that day, I FINALLY remembered to use my camera. Though I still don't know how to use the darn thing, I am so happy to have a DSLR because even on auto-mode (and AT NIGHT) it takes some mighty fine pics.

One of our first stops was Washington Square where we walked over the bodies of an estimated 3,000-8,000 people. The park was first used as a potters' field, next for bodies of American Revolutionary soldiers who died in a British controlled prison across the street, and, lastly, as extra burial space for victims of the 1793 Yellow Fever outbreak (they ran out of room in the regular cemeteries because the outbreak killed 10% of the population).

Another interesting stop was the Pennsylvania Hospital: the first hospital in the U.S. That statue (which is hard to see in my second pic) is of William Penn and there is an interesting story about him. Every so often, the statue "wanders off." Yup. People always thought it was pranksters moving the statue, but the area has been on camera since the 1980's and the statue has still moved. In 1982 the camera went to snow for just TWO minutes and he was gone! All 1,000 pounds of him! He was found lying next to a patient's bed in the psych ward. Try explaining THAT one!

And I thought Chucky was a freaky doll.

Interesting that Mr. "I hate horror stuff" was paying such close attention ;) I swear I am rubbing off on this guy.

Wouldn't be a ghost tour without a shot of a cemetery. This one is supposedly haunted by Hessian soldiers who all died of Yellow Fever and were buried here. They had used the tombstones as target practice, and the thought is that they are doomed to protect the sacred ground they once defiled.

St. Peter's Church. In the cemetery of this church, seven Indian chiefs who died of smallpox on a visit to Philadelphia in 1793 are buried. According to legend, they haunt the churchyard because they were not buried according to tribal customs.

The Customs House. Not creepy, but it can be seen briefly in Ghostbusters.

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Days 1&2 of S&K's Philly Adventure

Now that my fantasy line-up is set (though this week does not look good), I have some time to blog about Stacey and Kate's Philly Adventure.

The adventure began last Wednesday when we picked Stacey up from the airport. Of course, the best way to introduce her to West Philadelphia was to take the route home that goes through the hood. Although she was not as fortunate as my mother who saw a man dealing drugs with a boa constrictor around his neck (no lie), it was still interesting for her to see what most people think all of West Philly is like.

When she arrived, she met Buster and I went to work finishing up dinner (remember, I am all domestic now).

Back in California, we lived in the same apartment building for over a year and she'd often come over to have dinner and watch some guilty pleasure TV. So we, of course, had to do the same here. We started with a Makenzie episode of Toddlers and Tiaras (she's our fave)...

And then watched some Dr. 90210...

Like I said, guilty pleasure TV.


Thursday morning we headed to Old City where most of the historical sights in Philly are located (Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, etc.). We had heard late Wednesday night that the government shutdown had ended, so expected to be able to get in to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Alas, neither were set to open until *maybe* noon (we couldn't get a firm answer on anything) and since Stacey could see the Liberty Bell through a window she said she didn't need to wait around for either to open. We can always do them next time (she's coming back in the Spring!).

Instead, we checked out things NOT controlled by the feds.

Like Christ Church and its cemetery:

The Betsy Ross House:

 and Elfreth's Alley:

We took a break from history for a little shopping and I got a fabulous new coat and some fun booties from Burlington. That store really is more than great coats ;)

After shopping, we headed to LOVE Park so we could see the famous Philly Love sculpture. Though they have a reproduction on the Penn campus that I've seen, I hadn't yet seen the original. It was awesome!

Which is near City Hall:

And not too far from Reading Terminal Station where we got Stacey's first Philly Cheesesteak :)

It was an awesome day! 

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