Birthday Weekend

We celebrated Susan’s birthday with a trip to Center City Philadelphia this past weekend with friends Nancy and Bob.

We picked them up on Friday at noon and headed to the city. After stopping at our hotel to drop off the car and bags, we headed off on our adventure.. Since the hotel was right on Penn Square, we were within walking distance of almost everything we wanted to do. First stop was the Mütter Museum, a museum of medical oddities. Since our friends worked at one time as EMT’s, they were quite interested in the strange array of skulls, models and preserved examples of diseased body parts, skeletons, embryos, medical instruments, and much more.

After checking into our hotel, we walked two blocks to the Reading Terminal Market where we selected some fresh fish, asparagus, bread, and desserts for dinner. Rich prepared the meal in our room and we spent a fun evening together. We even played a few games!

Saturday morning we ate a nice breakfast at the hotel then made our way to the historical area. We began by getting tickets to Independence Hall at the visitors’ center. It was a stirring feeling to be standing in the place where our nation began and our constitution was signed.

From there we went to see the Liberty Bell which is housed in a museum that looks out at Independence Hall and the bell tower where it once hung.

We were the first visitors of the day at Ben Franklin’s printing house. We went next door and Nancy had a postcard posted at Ben Franklin Post Office. The we walked by Betsy Ross’s house and down Elphreth’s Alley, the oldest continuously occupied street in America.

Taking a cab to south Philadelphia we spent a few hours roaming around the Italian Market. We ate lunch at Ralph’s (The second oldest Italian restaurant in the United States and oldest restaurant continuously owned by generations of the same family.) We picked up a sesame seed baguette at Sarcone’s Bakery, some butter steaks, fresh corn on the cob (in March!), and some leeks. We took a cab back to the hotel for a rest, then set out once more for the Reading Terminal, where we got a triple chocolate cake and some home-made ice cream for dessert.

Rich created another awesome meal in our kitchenette, Bob cooked the corn in their kitchen, and we had a delightful birthday dinner.

Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel then checked out and made our way to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. After walking up all the steps Rocky once ran up, we spent the entire morning exploring the museum.

We caught a shuttle ride to Pennsylvania Avenue and walked to the Rodin Museum, closed for renovations. The gardens were open, however, and the reflecting pool was lined with beautiful tulips.

Then it was back home to Mechanicsburg. We had a lovely time. In retrospect it was one of those trips that just seems satisfying in every way. What a super way to spend a birthday weekend!