What sounds like an odd title for a book was actually a very fun trip outside of the time I spend being sick. For a long time now we've wanted to experience the US Open tennis tournament in New York. Perhaps our impromptu day at Roland Garros many years ago wet the appetite but perhaps it also is a bit more within reach than many of the other major tennis tournaments. We had a really steller deal from Marriott and one of their New York properties qualified for it, so we decided no time like 2023 to make this experience a reality. Of course, if we were going to fly all the way to New York, why not make the most of it and see if we fit in somewhere else nearby that we hadn't been to before. Enter the City of Brotherly Love (aka Philadelphia).
This trip started out in Philadelphia. We arrived later in the evening and by which time it was already dark. We were staying in the city centre and our taxi driver assured us that we were in a safe area now; apparently that wasn't always the case but the city really invested a lot in cleaning up the area. Thankfully our taxi driver was right and we felt pretty safe walking around. That first evening we tried to get in to the oldest pub in Philly, McGillin's Olde Ale House, whose beer taps have been flowing since 1860 only questionably stopping during prohibition, but found that Saturday nights turns the place into more of a bar with cover charge and all. Not entirely interested in being in a packed, loud atmosphere our first night we decided to skip and found a shawarma food truck instead, I think meant to cater to those bar patrons once they stumble out of McGillin's, and grabbed ourselves some very tasty wraps which we ate while walking the streets of Philadelphia exploring. What stood out very quickly, particularly for a weekend night, was that driving loud obnoxiously "souped up” cars and motorbikes around the street is the thing to do with the noise reverberating from the buildings into the wee early morning. We did end up having dinner at McGillin's Sunday where I tried my first ever Philley cheese steak, because when in Philley, why wouldn't you?
Our hotel, The Notary, is situated in the historic old city hall annex building where residents used to go to get documents notarized, hence the name. The building dates back to 1926 and was designed in the classical revival style. There is a nostalgic feel to the hotel with a certain charm. It is located right across the street of the current city hall, and steps from the convention centre, so very well located. The Notary pays homage to its history through its 1920s decor. There are display cases with men's top hats from various historic periods and another display depicting the evolution of the typewriter on its ground floor corridor by its restaurant. The modern day city hall is world's largest free standing masonry building and is an architectural marvel. The clock tower features a clock face on each side measuring 26 feet in diameter. Its location is geometrically centre to four other squares within the city centre and the city hall courtyard provides access through to each of these other squares.
Philadelphia has a rich history and is known as the birth place of American democracy. We had a couple days here and explored as much as we could given I came down with something that knocked me out for half a day and lingered on keeping my energy levels low. While still taking great care of me and making sure I was good to be alone, Z also took advantage of the time I was down to find himself a barbershop open on a Sunday. It would seem like this has become a thing, Z getting a haircut while we're travelling. He came back looking quite fine with his meticulously clean cut and a cool story about his experience.
Philadelphia has a vibrant food scene so we booked ourselves a food tour and it ended up only being four of us and the guide. The tour started in the famous Reading Terminal market with a sweet apple pastry which was super delicious and quite filling so we couldn't finish it all without spoiling our appetite for the rest of the tour. We had five stops in totalling including a Malaysian restaurant in Philadelphia's Chinatown, and an Irish Pub before heading back to Reading Terminal market to sample a cheesesteak pretzel rollup from Miller's Twist. This Amish style pretzel was the best pretzel I've ever tasted, it was soft and just melted in your mouth. Had it not been our second to last stop I would have been able to devour an entire pretzel on my own, but being pretty stuffed Z and I shared one. Our tour was capped off with a stop in at Famous 4th Street Cookie Company, also in the market, for a choice of whatever cookie we desired. This was the best store bought cookie every and tasted just every bit like homemade. I choose a peanut butter cookie and it was soft, chewy and tasted sweet and salty all at the same time. Z, never able to resist a chocolate chip cookie, opted for that one without any regret. Reading Terminal market is a great place to stop in for a bit to eat at any of the numerous food ventures, it has a fresh fruit, vegetable and foods shop within as well as many other shops selling a variety of goods. I had to stop myself from spending too much time in the honey shop. We did come back the morning of our departure day to grab some food for lunch and couldn't resist stopping at Beiler's Doughnuts to try one of their very unique donuts.
The other must do when in the city is to visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art famous for the movie scene where Rocky runs up the stairs and jumps up and down while throwing his fists triumphantly in the air at the top. Obviously the thing to do is to repeat that scene; there are even "Rocky feet" imprinted at the top and a statue below where you can get your picture taken for a donation fee.
All in all it was a good visit, but after our 3 days there felt we'd experienced enough and were ready to move on to our main event. We had booked a train to New York which took us just under 2 hours.
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