west philadelphia, born & raised...

I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH A CITY!
Since I had Friday off from school, we decided it was a perfect weekend go to visit Miss Amanda in Philadelphia. What a wonderful decision! We had so much fun.
There's a lot that we did and I'm kind of tired and would like to rest a while, so this will be in list form.
Friday:
-After facing much traffic and the worst IHOP IN HISTORY, we got to Philly about 7:30. We took a wrong turn, but it didn't matter because we were close enough, had time and noticed there was a power outage that took out all the traffic lights in the area
-We called Amanda to let her know we were in town (she worked until 11). Walked around U of Penn's campus and had some pizza.
-Called Amanda back and asked for directions to her theatre so we could pick up her keys. Hung out with Elliott for a while in her apartment until she called me at 10:45, asking to be let in cause she got out of work early. yesss! We spent quite a while talking and sipping on mimosas (we brought stuff to make Amanda's favorite drink, of course!) until we passed out from exhaustion (but not until after giggling and talking in the dark like a slumber party for a while)

Saturday:
-Woke up around 10 o'clock to a beautiful sunny sky. Amanda made apple pancakes. David went to get coffee and spilled his all over the porch because, as he put it, he couldn't see why he should put down one of the coffees to get his cell phone out to tell us to let him into the house.
-Walked to trolley, hopped on the subway and headed into Center City. Went to the Indepence Hall Visitor Center to buy tickets but found out (since it was Veteran's Day weekend) that it was FREE! Walked past the Liberty Bell (line was way too long!)
-Saw the most amazing looking carriage driver EVER! He had white hair, all crazy Einstein looking, and some pretty wicked looking facial hair. Basically: he wins.
-Went to Independence Hall. Saw the most amazing "guide" ever. David did best impression of "guide" ever. We then became the assholes giggling in the corner during a patriotic weekend in a very patriotic place.
-Walked over to George Washington Square and the Grave (Tomb?) of the Unknown Soldier (I probably got the name all wrong, I know)
-Walked down to Moriarty to have lunch. Saw a "celebrity"- Rake Yohn of "CKY" and "Viva la Bam" fame. We spent about 2 hours there, enjoying the food and the drinks. We also had some coffee to give us some energy to continue on our journey.
-Introduced Amanda to LUSH.
-Walked towards Museum district. Saw a plaza-type area that had game pieces all around it. Some pieces from Monopoly and Sorry!, dominoes and chess and bingo pieces. Also, the biggest mayor statue EVER.
-Went into Love park. Y'know, the park that's in tons of skateboarding videos and also famous for the love sign that's in it.
-Walked to the most amazing fountain ever!
-Walked in circles (and past many historical signs) to get to H&M as the sun set. Now... the day was so unseasonably warm that we barely needed the jackets/sweaters we had until about 7/8 o'clock. That was amazing luck, 'cause it was the perfect day to be walking around the city. The bad part was that all of the businesses were SO HOT because they all had their heat on already! H&M and LUSH were both so warm! (Some of the stuff in LUSH was melting because it was so stuffy in there). We took a quick look around H&M before leaving to walk down to the Delaware and Penn's Landing.
-Stopped in 7-11 for some energy drinks
-Walked by a lot of amazing swanky and nicely designed restuarants. So many different types of food! A lot of them had really nice outside seating areas, too. I love when cities have areas like that.
-Got to the Delware and saw an amazing memorial for Irish immigrants. One end started at the beginning of their journey and the other ended with them landing here. It was pretty amazing.
-Walked back up Walnut to Eulogy, a Belgian tavern. We went because Amanda told me that their upstairs part had coffins for tables. SOLD! We needed a break from being on our feet most of the day, anyway. We split a pitcher of Belgian beer that was both sweet and tart and also a 500 year old recipe. We also shared some Belgian meatballs that were delicious.
-Walked to the bus stop and found the saddest journal ever. Left it behind,
-Got some Chinese food
-Ate food, hung out and introduced Amanda to "shoes"

This morning we got up, got bagels and coffee (or tea) at the Green Line Cafe and then we headed out. The drive back was so much quicker and nicer than the drive there. A lot less traffic. Whew!
The rest of my photos from the trip are on my flickr site, if you want to see them.
All in all, an amazing weekend. I am in love with Philly and I told David that he's going to have to look for jobs there. Amanda said she's been checking out schools for me-- awesome! So, who knows? Maybe we'll be in Philly in 2008.