Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

It's very rare that Shawn and I have a day off that coincides. So, usually, we like to spend the day together doing something or going somewhere we haven't yet been. I hadn't spent much time with Emily for awhile, so we decided to head up to Pennsylvania to take her to dinner and the movies. Her school is about 1/2 an hour away from Philadelphia, so that's where we decided to spend the day.

Because it was so cold and windy, we decided to take a tour bus that drops you off at different places around Philadelphia (you can get off and on any time throughout the day). Our bus left from "Historical Philadelphia" and the first stop we made was Eastern State Penitentiary...

I believe it is the first jail in the United States to use solitary confinement. It was really cool to see a few of the holding cells and the visiting room (all they allow you to see for free). Shawn and I both agreed that this was probably the most interesting part of the day and wished we had time to take the tour. Oh well, there's always next time. Around the Penitentiary is also one of the houses where they filmed a part of "The Sixth Sense." I, however, like to think of it as the house we will one day have. (Ha! Riiiiiiiight)

Next, we went to "The Love Statue" in JFK Park. I thought it was cool for a photograph, but little else. Or, as Shawn so eloquently put it - "Is this all there is?" In case you somehow didn't notice, this is my FAVORITE picture ever taken. So, it wasn't all for naught...

We then decided to see what "Antique Row" was - thinking that is might be a good place to pick up something for our house and/or the wedding. However, we were sadly mistaken. Even around 1 pm, there were only 4(ish) stores open. One was a toy store, one was clearly out of our price range, and one was some New Age-y type place. The fourth had some cute items, but nothing we really needed. So, that was a bust, and we were stuck there for an hour until the bus came to get us. After that, we were pretty much finished with all the places we had wanted to go and/or hadn't yet seen. We passed the Franklin Institute (aka the Science Center) and found out there was a Narnia exhibit. If we had known that was there ahead of time, we probably would have spent the day there (we've each already been there twice before). Now, I am hoping we can get back up to Philadelphia to see it before the exhibit disappears. Or, maybe we'll get lucky and it will come to the Maryland Science Center. By that time, we were both starving (imagine that!) and decided to go to Campo's (I think) for a lunch of cheesesteaks. They ended up being the BEST cheesesteaks I've ever had (and I've eaten a lot of cheesesteaks)...

After lunch, we decided to finish the afternoon back in "Historical Pennsylvania." We saw Ben Franklin's house - or, rather, the outline of where it used to be, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell. Like the "Love Statue," I found the Liberty Bell somewhat anti-climactic. I really expected it to be something more, so I was pretty disappointed. Is that bad?

That was the end of our day in Philadelphia. We then drove to Eastern University to spend some time with Emily (yay!). The three of us went to Ruby's Diner and then to see Confessions of a Shopaholic (definitely the highlight of Shawn's day).

While there were a few disappointments, it was definitely a good day. I got to spend more than 2 or 3 hours with Shawn and ended the day seeing one of my best friends. Here is what I learned about Shawn: he has little to no tolerance for tour guides (apparently, they need to "take a chill") and he thinks security at historical landmarks is "lame" and "a waste of our tax dollars." Always good to learn something new, right?