When I parked my car in New York City on Friday, I had parked in front of a school. It was nice because I wouldn't have to move it until Monday Morning and it was only two blocks from Anthony's house. That was great for Saturday and Sunday, but Monday was the day to pay the piper. That particular school has summer school hours and as such there is no parking in front of it M-F. Cars have to be moved by 7:00. Well, I overslept and didn't walk out of the apartment until 7:45. Oh well what are you going to do? Anthony and I made our way over to t the car just as the parking enforcement officer was getting out of his car and there was another vehicle in front of me. We hopped in and moved it before I got a ticket. Phew...awesome, right? I drove over to Anthony's street and there was one hour parking starting at 8:30 right in front of his building. Sweet I can park here (it was a couple of minutes before 8:00), not have to pay until 8:30 and then I'll have an hour to pack up the car and get out of the city. I parked the car, went up, packed bags and woke up the girls. Went down at 8:25 go feed the meter and what to my wondering eyes should appear? A bright red parking violation. I had failed to notice the no parking between 8:00 and 8:30 sign above the one hour parking sign. Meh, what're you going to do. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out the cockamamie parking meter business and I even flagged down a meter maid. She said, "You must be the guy from South Carolina, right?" (the rental has SC plates). I responded "How'd you guess?"
Anyway, short story made long I paid for the parking and got the ride packed up before my hour ran out. We all made it down to the car and plugged in the address to the hotel in Philadelphia. I had to reboot my phone to get the GPS functioning. The GPS function is nice when it works but the AT&T Navigator application locks up constantly. Not a fan. The GPS guided us right in to Philly but when we got close to our destination the highway we needed to take was blocked off. No biggie, we got off of the highway and started navigating the streets and got to the hotel. There we found Philly's fines blocking entrance to the parking garage for the Sheraton. Parking the car in the street, the girls and I walked to the hotel lobby to try and figure out what was going on. Apparently Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Joe Biden were in the hotel for a fund raiser. We ended up being able to park in the garage a little later. We checked in and made our way up to our room, took a minute to crank up the A/C and get settled in. Laela acquired a few travel books for the cities we're visiting, so we grabbed the Philly book and started out on foot.
I think that Laela said it best when she mentioned that everything about Philly reminds us of her brother Nick and his girlfriend Sam. I think that of all of the big cities that we've visited Philadelphia is our favorite so far.
Our trek to the Liberty Bell took us right through the heart of Chinatown. Miranda loves going to Chinatown in each of the cities that we've been to and Philadelphia was no different. We went into a couple of shops and she picked up some trinkets. We then walked to the visitors center, got oriented, and stopped in the gift shop (had to get a decal for the bukkit).
We then walked over to the Liberty Bell. It's really humbling to stand in front of a piece of American history like that. After visiting the bell, we walked over to Independence Hall and got the express tour there. You get to stand in the same room where the Declaration of Independence was drafted and then ratified. I'd amazing to think that you're standing in the same room that the founding fathers stood in.
After getting our American history on, we walked to South Street to experience some of the local flavor of Philadelphia. My intention was to go have dinner at Tattooed Mom, but their 21 and over policy put a stop to that. We ended up walking down the street a little bit and stopping to eat at Jon's Bar and Grill on 3rd and South which is apparently the birth place of Larry Fine )of Three Stooges fame). Since we were in Philly Laela and I had cheese-steaks and I had my first couple of Yuengling Lagers of the trip. I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoyed Yuengling. The bar had the Phillies vs. Cardinals game on (unfortunately it was played in St. Louis or we'd have gone to the game). While sitting and eating a wicked thunderstorm came through and we thought for sure that we were going to have to take a cab back to the hotel. In a fortunate turn of events, the storm was short lived and by the time we had finished our meal we were able to go back and walk on the street.
I think that Laela said it best when she mentioned that everything about Philly reminds us of her brother Nick and his girlfriend Sam. I think that of all of the big cities that we've visited Philadelphia is our favorite so far.
Our trek to the Liberty Bell took us right through the heart of Chinatown. Miranda loves going to Chinatown in each of the cities that we've been to and Philadelphia was no different. We went into a couple of shops and she picked up some trinkets. We then walked to the visitors center, got oriented, and stopped in the gift shop (had to get a decal for the bukkit).
We then walked over to the Liberty Bell. It's really humbling to stand in front of a piece of American history like that. After visiting the bell, we walked over to Independence Hall and got the express tour there. You get to stand in the same room where the Declaration of Independence was drafted and then ratified. I'd amazing to think that you're standing in the same room that the founding fathers stood in.
After getting our American history on, we walked to South Street to experience some of the local flavor of Philadelphia. My intention was to go have dinner at Tattooed Mom, but their 21 and over policy put a stop to that. We ended up walking down the street a little bit and stopping to eat at Jon's Bar and Grill on 3rd and South which is apparently the birth place of Larry Fine )of Three Stooges fame). Since we were in Philly Laela and I had cheese-steaks and I had my first couple of Yuengling Lagers of the trip. I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoyed Yuengling. The bar had the Phillies vs. Cardinals game on (unfortunately it was played in St. Louis or we'd have gone to the game). While sitting and eating a wicked thunderstorm came through and we thought for sure that we were going to have to take a cab back to the hotel. In a fortunate turn of events, the storm was short lived and by the time we had finished our meal we were able to go back and walk on the street.
We ended up walking up South Street to Broad and took Broad through downtown back to our hotel. It was awe inspiring to be standing below some of downtown Philadelphia's nicest buildings as they lit up the night sky. Once we made it back to the hotel Laela and I made a few phone calls and then Miranda and I went and swam in the hotel pool. It was very relaxing. When we finished we went back to the room, got all caught up online and went to bed.
