Philadelphia trip post #1

[marenpaisley]

My dearest friend seraphtrevs and her husband are here visiting me in Philadelphia! Yesterday I met them downtown, and we spent some time walking around the historical areas of the city, had a fabulous lunch in a restaurant in Chinatown, and then wandered around Reading Terminal Market.

Today we were planning on having a Day for Science (lol, because we are science geeks) at the Franklin Institute (and maybe walk over to one of our favorite museums: the Mutter Museum - a museum of medical oddities). However. I totally didn't count on the massive number of people who were going to the Phillies parade in Center City this afternoon. Someone on the train yesterday said that they'd heard there were going to be about two million people downtown for the parade. It didn't faze me because I figured we'd be at the museums, and we'd probably be able to clearly see all of the exhibits that way, too.

Well, the train station was a mad house this morning. The poor man in the ticket booth actually sold out of tickets after I'd been in line for half an hour (of course you can buy them on the train when you board, but a lot of fans going to the city had never ridden before and were bewildered, outraged, or panicky). The trains were running late, too (which is rare - we've got an excellent regional rail system here in southeast PA) because of the volume of passengers.

Platform full of Phillies fans A side view from the back of the station platform after two trains had already loaded up with passengers - there were literally hundreds of people who had already boarded. There was a lot of cheering whenever a train would come through, which was pretty funny to see. Lol, suburbia.

Long story short, we're meeting tomorrow instead. It's just as well; I'm not a huge fan of crowds, and a parade with a couple million spectators doesn't interest me at all. I love the Phillies, but damn. I like my sanity, too.

Independence Hall

Independence Hall from the back

Gay Rights historical marker

Love Park I don't know why Love Park has green water in its fountain.

City Hall I cut off the top of the William Penn statue. Oops.

Now I'm off to get lunch and pick up some more Halloween candy for tonight. Aww, little trick-or-treaters - they're so cute! And I love Halloween! :D