That's all

Another excellent trip.  We really do travel well together.  Allison remarked that we are clearly good friends as she was reaching over to steal a forkful of Butch's mashed potatoes.

Last night, we ate dinner at The Black Sheep pub and then stopped at a few more bars.  We walked down this sketchy dark alley to this bar. Ranstead Room, mentioned in the NY Times.  It was also supposed to be like going to a prohibition era speakeasy.  We didn't stay because it felt too staged and had drinks exactly like the Franklin bar we went to the night before. I much prefer a dive bar or a good pub.

We had breakfast this morning and then the gang dropped me at the Art Museum on their way out of town.

At the museum, I was most interested in seeing the Duchamp collection but was blown away by the entire museum. They had a special exhibit "The Wrath of the Gods" showing various depictions of Prometheus Bound by a few people you might have heard of - Titian, Rubens and Michelangelo.

I'm writing this from the Amtrak Regional 88 heading back to Penn Station.

I enjoyed Philadelphia.  Good food and great historical sights.  Since I've not been to the Phillies stadium, we will visit again when the Yankees are in town

Until the next trip...

Independence Day

Saturday morning started slowly.  This is directly due to us being out until 1 am and the horrible, horrible beds at the house.

We are not staying at the house that I originally booked. They moved us to a new location on Thursday.  Apparently, the house we rented is being held as evidence by the DEA due to the previous tenants being busted for selling drugs.  Not making this up.  Our new house reminds me of Rocky's house in Rocky 2.  Can't you see him jumping over the railing to go for an early morning run?

Another full day of seeing the sights.  We started with tours of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

Our tour guide at Independence Hall was amazing and this was easily our favorite experience of the day.

After Independence Hall, we went to Reading Terminal Market for lunch.  This is a huge food market where you can buy groceries and prepared food.  We had cheesesteaks.  When in Rome and all.

After the terminal market, we walked and walked and then walked some more stopping at the famous Love statue, the Rocky statue and finishing at the Rocky steps. Henry and I ran up while everyone else walked.  We were too tired to go into the art museum so I'm going to try to do that tomorrow before I leave.

I'm sure everyone can agree that this is a full day.  We are now enjoying some adult beverages at the Irish Pub across from our house.

Pope-tastic

They are really gearing up for the Pope's visit later this month.

Pope stuff everywhere.  I bought a solar Pope to keep my solar Queen company.

I give you exhibit A:

Philadelphia is Mint

The boys and I had a pleasant trip on Amtrak and I returned them to their parents intact. It was an educational trip except that Henry has still not mastered revolving doors.  They learned:

1. NYC has local and express subways
2. How to hail a cab
3. The difference between a dive bar and a wine bar
4. Business class is way better than coach

Allison is most annoyed with me over #4.  Something about her kids never being the same again. 

Upon arrival, we dropped off our bags and immediately headed to the U.S. Mint. It's only open during the week and only until 4:30 pm so we didn't want to miss it. You actually get to see them making the coins. We learned many interesting facts like why coins have ridges on the edges.

Charlene was not allowed in because she did not bring her ID with her.  Jamie said "but she's my wife" and the cop said "that's great but she could be the Queen of England and she'd still need a photo ID."

Not so impressed with the Philadelphia Subway.  First of all, you need to walk like 18 blocks to get to a station. Where are we the Upper East Side?  The stations are poorly marked. You need to walk down the stairs to see if it is going eastbound or west. Tokens. Enough said.

We had dinner at a good Italian restaurant except it was BYOB which seems to be a thing here.  

After dinner we went to a fun speakeasy like place called the Franklin Bar.  Butch and Eric got the 3 course cocktail tasting menu.  

Today, we are doing the historical sights, the food market and museums.

Pre-game Warmup - Friday

We had an action packed Thursday evening.  Did we sleep in? Absolutely not.  Plenty of time to sleep when you're dead.

Quick stop at the Donut Pub for some fuel and then off to the F train to Rockefeller Center to see the Today Show.  Mason and Henry pushed their way to the front of the crowd and made it onto TV.  Henry met Savannah Guthrie.  She was all like "why aren't you in school?".  Whatever.

We went back down to Chelsea and filled up on Crepes before heading to Dylan's Candy in Union Square.  We met one of my friends at the crepe place. Henry said "we went to 2 bars with Chris last night" to which he replied "sounds like a typical night out with Chris."

Phew.  Our todo list is complete.  We are heading to the armpit of train stations, Penn Station, for the trip to Philly.

Next update from Philadelphia. 

Pre-game warmup - Thursday

Henry and Mason successfully soloed on Metro-North.  Other than being completely bored on the train, there were no problems.

We had an action packed and fun filled evening.  First, we had dinner at one of my favorites, Tao Downtown.  We took a Dim Sum approach with the Pork Potstickers definitely winning "most favorite."

After dinner, we toured the Google building. Scooter rides, legos, massage chairs, Pac Mac, M&Ms, view from the roof, etc, etc.

The rain did not slow us down.  Next stop - Times Square and Toys R Us.  We rode the indoor Ferris wheel. We were given the choice of School Bus or Barbie Convertible. Seriously. How is that even a choice? Barbie Convertible!!  We bought the Minions edition of the Trouble board game for our train ride down to Philly.

It was now 10:00 pm. Were we done?  No way.  Next stop - Bodega Negra for the exploding chocolate dessert and an adult beverage for Chris.  Much needed after that trip to Toys R Us.

Still not done.  Final stop - Pierre Loti for Shirley Temples and yet another adult beverage for Chris.

We went to sleep just past Midnight.

Here we go

It's our second annual fall trip and this year's destination is Philadelphia.  The city of brotherly love. Let's hope our trip ends better than Hitchbot's.  

As readers of my blogs will not be surprised to learn, I've never been to Philadelphia. I've been to shockingly few places within easy driving distance of my house.  

Henry, Mason and I are having a pre-game warm-up before the trip.  The boys are taking Metro-North down on Thursday night so we can hang out in the city Thursday night and Friday morning.  I have an exciting agenda planned. We will then take Amtrak to Philly and meet the rest of the gang who are driving down from CT.

My friends have sufficiently freaked me out about the boys taking the train by themselves. The best comment was "you know that sounds like the plot of like every scary movie."  I've asked Allison to install Glympse on Mason's phone so we can track his location during the trip.

Stay tuned for updates...