A House of (dis)Order: Philly, Part 2

Apparently, there is a limit to how long a blog post can be. Who knew? Not me, apparently. If you have not read Part One of my trip to Philly, please scroll down.

So, to continue. After all of the historical attractions closed, we returned to our hotel to rest our very tired and now blistered feet. Tristan had plans to go to dinner with a cousin who lives in town but for the rest of us, the thought of putting our shoes back on and venturing outside again was more than we could bear. A lot of discussion, one phone call and 45 minutes later, we were chowing on DELICIOUS east coast pizza (one of the few things I have missed since leaving New Jersey), a famous Philly Cheesesteak for Paula and one of the best chocolate shakes I have enjoyed in some time.

Friday we went back to the convention and spent the day fighting the mobs of Speech Pathologists to get into session after session, most often sitting on the floor (until we were told it was a safety hazard and we must stand) or wandering the poster sessions and vendor booths.

That night we wandered the streets of Philly for quite a long time looking for something suitable but not to expensive for dinner. I can't say if we succeeded as I did not enjoy my dinner (but I was the only one) and I paid through the nose for it but the atmosphere almost made up for it. We ate at the

a period restaurant that served food that was likely what was eaten when our founding fathers roamed those same streets.
We enjoyed a dinner by candlelight. Seriously. One candle. That's all we got.

It was much darker than this picture makes it look. The flash on my camera did its job because I could barely see my menu. We drank from those neato pewter goblets, which kept our water freezing cold. I was grateful we were not given what would have passed for water in 1776 but rather some clean, cold ice water. It was definitely an interesting experience, made more interesting by a grouchy waiter and Paula's hi-jinks involving butter, a spoon and the candle flame (think drugs, people). And while my supper was not the best, the other three all thought their food was delightful. There was also a yummy assortment of period-type breads to try, all of which were scrumptious.

While perusing the streets of Philadelphia, we were randomly stopped on one corner by a parade of men wearing revolutionary war uniforms on horseback escorting a limo.

The pictures did not capture the moment very well. What did, however, was the drunk man on the corner who kept shouting "There's someone important in that limo!"

Saturday, Kari, Paula and I slept in and did some last minute sight seeing before leaving for the airport. Tristan enjoyed another day at the conference since she was not leaving until the next morning. We had been excited about this shopping center called the Bourse but when we tried to go Friday night they were already closed (doesn't Philly have a night life?) We went Saturday morning but were disappointed to find only gift shops and a small food court. We did pick up some souvenirs though.

Next we walked to the Betsy Ross house.

Philadelphia is big on Benjamin Franklin. Their fire station (which, unfortunately, was across the street from our hotel) has an engraving of Ben wearing a fire helmet and we passed this random statue while walking.