Philadelphia

Daniele is visiting January 14 to February 7. We are spending the first part in the northeast US and the second part in Costa Rica.

We started off in Philly since he flew in there. He arrived in the evening so all we did the first day was get dinner. We walked three miles (I think there was a little kilometer vs. mile miscalculation) to a fantastic Mexican place called Los Gallos. Daniele was thrilled to eat good Mexican food and to find out there are people living in the US who speak less English than he does.

We stayed in the historic center, right on the river. Our room had a really nice view of the Franklin Bridge. There was also breakfast with waffles, which Daniele really liked. He was excited about the “long” American coffee-- but it was pretty disappointing at the hotel. That day we did the traditional Philadelphia sites. It was the first time doing them for me, too, even though I had been to Philly. We saw the liberty bell, independence hall (where they debated the Constitution, Articles of Confederation, and Declaration of Independence, also saw original prints and pen), City Hall, the Museum of Art with tributes to Rocky, and a few other buildings and squares.

The next day we walked up and down the Italian Market. Daniele got a thrill out of seeing Italian brands and surnames. I had Daniele eat a cheese steak at Geno's. They had cheese fries for me, Pat's across the street only has cheese stake. We also visited Washington Square, Rittenhouse Square and some other smaller sites. For dinner we had some very good Thai food in Chinatown.

Today we had more waffles at the hotel before heading back to New Jersey. We had lunch at Sonic, which are in NJ now. It was my first time there, too, and Daniele wanted to go to a burger chain besides McDonald’s or Burger King. Next up, dinner with the family.

[Edit] Link to Philadelphia pictures from this trip:
https://picasaweb.google.com/kaitlyn.hanrahan/20110115Philadelphia#