Philly is fantastic.

...let's see how many Philly vs. "ffff" sound phrases I can make!

After our breakfast Monday morning, we hopped on the bus to go visit the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly

[Photo by me.  It was actually built to look like a castle]

D really loves ghosts and ghost stories.  I know Ghost Hunters has gone there and maybe a couple others.  

He was anxious to see it, and I ended up really enjoying the tour.  They actually have a haunted house there that I would love to go back for!

 [Sir, I really like those big headphones you have]

We obviously took an audio guided tour throughout the penitentiary.  The audio was actually really well done and narrated by Steve Buscemi.  You could pretty much walk around wherever you wanted, aside from a few locked off places.

 [One of the "nicer looking" cells]

 [I think this was the haunted section?]

[We all know how hard it is for couples to get pics on their own.  D is a pro]

 Well and then we couldn't leave without seeing Al Capone's cell!  Apparently he complained of being haunted by a ghost in the penitentiary!

 [Next, we'll follow him to Alcatraz!]

After leaving the penitentiary, we took a long walk and saw some sights.  The Museum of Art was closed, but we did see the Rocky stairs.  No chance we were waiting in line to get a pic with that statue.

 

There was no way we I could pass up a picture with the LOVE sign, especially when we walked right past it!

[Philly probably is for lovers...but I look like a fighter here after walking 5 blocks]

 We walked from the Museum of Art to the Reading Terminal Market, which is apparently pronounced "Redding" Terminal Market.  We loved it though!  If you follow me on Twitter, you know we settled on a delish Cajun meal there.  

 [Clearly it should be pronounced "REEE-ding"]

[Inside.]

I wish we would have had more time to really explore inside the Market.  There was cool used book section and stuff.  We headed over to see the Liberty Bell, but you know we aren't into lines and we're having the crazy one there.  We hit up some other cool bars, had dinner with some beer guys D knows and ended again at Sidecar. 

We had the best of times in Philly.  I honestly can't wait to go back.  I honestly can't wait to go on another leisure (non-beer related) trip with D.  He really is the best travel buddy and I love exploring with him.  It took me a helluva long time to write this post (thanks for bearing with me and reading it all!), so keep an eye out one day for NYC posts...they'll come one day :) 

And first we hit Philly.

I seriously can not rave about our road trip/vacay enough.  We had such a wonderful time.  The time actually didn't fly by, which was wonderful!  I think we enjoyed it to the fullest.  On a completely random note, do you ever have the weirdest dreams when you're on vacay?  I think it's that you're lacking the subconscious comfortability that you have when sleeping in your own home.  I didn't start dreaming about school until the end of the trip, so that was nice.

To save a bit of money on hotels, we decided to check out Airbnb. It was recommended to us by some friends who used it when they traveled to San Fransisco a while back.  Basically people rent out their homes/apartments/etc for similar prices as hotels.  Airbnb acts as the "middle-man" so owners do not handle your money.  It's definitely fab if you're staying for a bit and want the money-saver luxuries of making a couple of your own meals.  You can choose to rent just a room or a full home/apartment.  Anyhow, we chose to rent apartments in Philly and NYC through Airbnb.  We had a wonderful experience at our apartment in Philly.

It was a little studio apartment, but the location was ideal!  We found parking on the same block (which is always a concern when you're road tripping to a city).  The apartment was only around two blocks from a great little craft beer bar, Sidecar.

The first night we were there, we headed out to walk around the city and find some good food.

As we were walking in Philly, I instantly fell in love.  All the brownstones.  I really love a city where you can easily walk/bike anywhere.  I know the above picture isn't great.  I was just snapping random shots on our first night.  We walked about 5 or 6 blocks to Jose Pistolas.  Unfortunately, I didn't capture pics of the food.  D had been there before, but it's a really cool Mexican restaurant with awesome beer.  We hung out, had some beers, and had a delicious meal.  A couple things we loved: a) great mexican fare which we can't seem to find in Raleigh and b) the price!  It was so affordable (similar to Raleigh prices).  I could eat there all the time.

After leaving there, D quickly hailed a cab like a pro and we headed back to Sidecar.

[Delicious craft beer line-up]

We didn't eat there, but I wish we would have had the opportunity!  They have a great looking food menu.  The place is a bit small, and it was pretty packed for a Sunday night.  Although we still scored bar seats and had a great time.  The bartender recognized D and let us try some special beers.  Even better...we walked right "home."

I don't want to go all picture/text heavy on posts, so I'll save more Philly for another day (plus, my internet is acting up and it's taking AGES to upload pics).  The next morning though we did enjoy the perks of being in an apartment with our own homemade breakfast :)

[Although it's harder than you think working in a kitchen that's not yours...eggs should have been over easy and toast a bit lighter...delicious nonetheless!]