in late april we made a long-weekend’s sojourn to philadelphia. it was my first trip to the city, and i LOVED it: the history, the cityscape, the people. it was terrific! we stayed at the loews, which we can highly recommend for both coolness and family-friendliness. it helped, of course, that the economy was in the tank and it was still, technically, winter, so we got a great rate. we had a kickass room with an awesome view. here’s what we saw the first evening from our room:
didion, of course, loved the view.
my favorite site was the liberty bell. i welled up when we walked into the expanse and saw it with the sunlight coming in from the glass wall behind it. the bell is not very large. i don’t know why i envisioned it upwards of five feet tall … how large would a building’s steeple have to be to house a five-foot tall bell?! anyway … i found the trip to the liberty bell quite moving.
only my two favorite guys could make the liberty bell any more awesome …
the halls: old city, independence, and congress were our next stop (across the street from the liberty bell) … unfortunately, my pictures of the old city hall were blown out; though, the plaque came out:
here’s congress hall:
sandwiched between old city hall and congress hall, independence hall is proud and strong:
we roamed around downtown philly … cruised the art and sculpture parks … pigged out at redding market … got a babysitter through the hotel (!!!) and had a romatic dinner in rittenhouse square at friday-saturday-sunday …
some miscellany, like a cool art deco sign:
and a pouty d-man:
and finally, another beautiful sunset …
