Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Philadelphia (home to the BEST gelato of my life!)

Ever since I visited my friend Chris in Philly two summers ago, I have been wanting to go again with Dan in tow. This past weekend, we finally decided to take a day trip to the City of Brotherly Love for some record store shopping (for him) and sweet eating (for her).

"I haven't been to Pennsylvania since I single-handedly delivered the state for Obama," Dan said, referring to when he campaigned in Allentown for what was it? two weekends? I don't think this statement is true.

Taking the MegaBus cost us $25 round-trip for the 2-hour trip to Philly for the two of us...meanwhile, thanks to the recent NJ Transit rate hike, it costs us $52 to take a 1-hour train to my hometown. Go figure. Wanting to get most of the day, I made us take the 6 am bus, which got us there waaay too early. It was raining and everything was closed. Until the city woke up, we ducked into the Reading Terminal Market for a hearty breakfast and some food sightseeing at all the cool butchers, bakeries and specialty shops.

After buying Dan a poncho, we walked in the drizzle through some of the historic district though we weren't in the mood to do anything too cultural.


Dan has a thing for Ben Franklin. He calls him his B-F-F. (Ben Franklin Forever). Here's Dan posing by one of his many statues, and we threw pennies on his grave.


We hit up four record stores during our trip (Dan got seven records!), including Philadelphia Record Exchange, pictured here.


Even though Dan says he is completely over New York City, anytime we visit any other city in the United States that isn't New York*, Dan always shrugs his shoulders and says, "This city is a complete whatever" and complains the entire time how dead it is. Philadelphia was no exception. Well, except for this street. Dan has decided he wants to live on this street, which looks like a Parisian alleyway.

*Can you guess, besides for NYC, what other American city is not a "complete whatever" or "totally dead," according to Dan?"



Similar to my last trip, we checked out the mosaic art of Isaiah Zagar. We walked through the Italian Market, ate some sandwiches, and we bought some cookies from the famous Isgro bakery, which was closed the last time I was in town.


But the best part of the trip, hands down was the gelato. The last time I visited Philly, Chris took me to Capogiro, and I remember thinking it was pretty good. Good enough that I wanted to come again. But this time, it was out of this world. The flavor combo I got was peach, chocolate-hazelnut and pistachio. Peach is not a flavor I normally gravitate towards, but the guy behind the counter recommended it, and it was surprisingly the best of the three. I have been to Italy and Argentina and had some pretty good gelato in my life, but this tops all of it. I was so sad when I reached the bottom of the cup.


To work off all that ice cream, we went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to hit the stairs, Rocky-style.


Burn, baby, burn!


I did it!


We thought it was funny that it seems like everyone goes to the museum just to pose by this statue and run up the stairs. Does anyone know if the art is any good? We ran out of time, so we never found out.

6 comments:

Peter said...

I guess "It's NOT Always Sunny in Philadelphia". Jen and I plan on going this fall. Btw, nice poncho:)

Yvonne said...

I wanted Dan to get the pink poncho but he wouldn't. What a party pooper.

laurabeggar said...

If Dan thinks he's over New York, then you guys need to visit Portland. Or have you two already been?

Yvonne said...

We actually want to visit Portland quite badly (maybe soon!?) however Dan has already ruled it out because of the weather. He's a California guy. He can't be wearing sweaters in June. Also rain is bad because it makes his glasses foggy.

laurabeggar said...

Yeah, I even had to wear a sweatshirt this morning. But keep me posted if you make it this way. It would be great to get together and meet each others' husbands.

Yvonne said...

I have been obsessed with doing a Northwest roadtrip for years...Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and nature in between...you give me incentive to get on it sooner.