Philadelphia

If you are one of my thousands of avid readers (sarcasm intended), you know that most of our travel is done fairly locally.   Our BIG trips together usually revolve around the Southwest.   Unfortunately for us, our only couple-trip took place last weekend in OKC.   We have, though, either singly or together, had some great trips with family this summer.

• There was the mother-daughter-nephew trip to Yosemite earlier in the summer.
• There was our Colorado trip to see the nieces.
• There was a roller coaster themed trip with The Hubs, Sis, BiL and the youngest nephew the first of August to KC.  (If interested, you can read about my reviews of that trip at Yelp.)

Over Labor Day weekend, I visited Philly with Sis and both nephews.

I’ve been to Boston (some thirty years ago) and to D.C. three times (in my early twenties and then twice chaperoning student groups).   These are my only experiences on the East Coast.   (Hermine made me a bit nervous earlier in the trip b/c I had a late flight out on Sunday evening.)

Anywhoo, we had a great time and I just wanted to post some photos.

View of city hall at night from our hotel.

Dragon in Chinatown.

Rittenhouse Square

Franklin Institute

Independence Hall

If you’re interested in the food, we ate more in convenient locales rather than seek out culinary destinations.  (We all really wanted to trek to South Philly Barbacoa which was named a top-ten 2016 restaurant by Bon Appetit.  Unfortunately, the restuarant’s hours just didn’t work out for us.)  So, we ended up here:

Hard Rock Cafe (Meh.  We only went because it was steps away from our hotel and Sis wanted the boys to see the memorabilia.)

Maggiano’s (Again, it was steps away from our hotel.  Sis and a colleague had eaten here before.  I thought the food was good and after a pretty heated discussion about which dessert to order, our waitress kindly brought an “extra” serving of butter cake out, gratis.   This kind act helped maintain brotherly love for the rest of the trip.)

Chocolate Zuccotto Cake, layered with Sambuca Mousse (Gigi’s Butter Cake was actually more delicious.)

Reading Terminal Market (Lot’s and lots of food options.  This was our go-to breakfast stop for three mornings.  I loved the hustle and bustle of this place, especially on Friday morning as we watched people pick up their lunches for the day.)

The cannoli filling station at Termini Bros in Reading Terminal Market

• Spataro’s (Philly Cheesesteak Breakfast Sandwich)
• Molly Malloy’s (Spicy Hash, yogurt and granola, steel ground oatmeal)
• Market Bakery (Fantastic bagels and croissants)
• Old City Coffee (Wonderful but was closed on Sunday)
• Kamal’s  (for daily smoothies to sustain us for our long walkabouts)
• Beller’s Donuts (The boys would have eaten here every morning.)

Philly Breakfast Cheesesteak from Spataro’s and Spicy Hash from Molly Malloy’s

Franklin Fountain (Authentic soda fountain with traditional and innovative flavors.  The boys got shakes.  I got a scoop of Whirly-Birly, a chocolate-salted-caramel-cacao nib concoction.)

Franklin’s Fountain

Shane’s (The oldest candy story in America…a sweet history lesson.)

Shane’s

McGillin’s (Opened the year Lincoln was elected…the oldest continuously operating tavern in Philadelphia.)

Garden Restaurant at the Barnes Foundation (Tuscan Kale Salad, Quinoa and Farro Salad and Roasted Curried Cauliflower)  MAKE SURE YOU VISIT THE MUSUEM—IT IS SPECTACULAR!

A trio of salads at The Barnes Foundation.

Barbuzzo (Tiny place that we were lucky to squeeze into—literally.   The youngest nephew surprised us all by ordering the octopus—I love adventurous eaters.)

Pan Seared Gnocchi from Barbuzzo. These were the lightest gnocchi I have ever had.

Capogiro Gelato (So many flavors–we had combinations of dark chocolate/lemon, lemon/grapefruit, Thai coconut/dark chocolate, burnt caramel/chocolate….all were delicious in their own special way. )

Capogiro Gelato

Thanks for tagging along.  We walked an average of six miles a day and burned a lot of calories (thank goodness).

Ben Franklin’s grave (Christ Church Cemetary) A penny saved is a penny earned.