Philadelphia Freedom

In early March we took a long weekend and headed to Philadelphia to visit John's daughter, Erin. It was my first trip to the birthplace of this country (Is that the official title?). We left Dayton early -- up by 3 a.m., packing the car at 4:15 a.m., standing at the airport longterm parking shuttle stop at 4:45 a.m. -- I felt like a fugitive stealing away in the middle of the night, banking on anonymity under cover of darkness.

To my surprise the flight was packed. Who goes anywhere at 6 a.m.? Except for the usual irritants (security just shy of a cavity search, weight limits on baggage so as not to burden the baggage handlers...after all it's all about the baggage handlers...no wonder that industry in going downhill), the flight was fine. One stop in Detroit where we walked the entire length of the Terminal B, and by noon we were in our hotel in downtown Phili.

After a turkey sandwich at the Independence Pub (grilled turkey with bacon and honey mustard on rosemary foccacia bread...it was excellent) we headed back to the hotel for a long nap. (John pointed out that right after I said, "I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep," I started snoring.

We headed to the gym only to find the jacuzzi out of order. That makes the second hotel we've stayed in where the jacuzzi wasn't working. Is it us? After showers, we walked the streets of Phili looking for a quaint restaurant, but no luck. We ended up at the Marriott and enjoyed two $12 glasses of wine apiece and chicken quesadillas. Hit the spot!

Since all my travels center around my appetite, I'll move right on to breakfast the next morning. We enjoyed crepes at Profi's Creperie in the Reading Terminal Market. What a cool place! That afternoon we headed to the Philadelphia Flower Show. It was spectacular with flower displays that defied imagination. Even if you're not much of a green thumb, it's an event worth seeing. Skip all the vendor stuff and check out the exhibitions. Anyway, Erin and her...what do I call him, Erin, boyfriend? Friend?...whatever, his name was Jaime and he was very nice. We hung out at the flower show, then headed over to Starbucks to catch up. We (John and I, Erin and Jaime) finished the evening with a jazz concert at the Art Museum and dinner at Friday's.

The next day John and Erin had breakfast to talk father-daughter stuff. I hung out at Starbucks and read the paper. My favorite vacation luxury. Erin headed home to study. John and I walked down to the historic district. We spent a couple of hours at the Constitution Museum. Also worth the investment of time and admission fee. There was a four mile line of people wanting to see the Liberty Bell and an equally long line to get into Independence Hall. We bagged it and headed down to the waterfront. We lingered over hors 'deorves and beers long enough to give our feet a break, then headed back to the hotel.

We loved all the rowhouses in the historic district and it got us talking again about moving downtown (Dayton, that is...). That's a whole other blog entry. Anyway, we finished with a dreadful dinner at the Hilton and called it a weekend. We were back home the next day by 11 a.m.

Philadelphia was a great town. I would definately go back.