Why Is Everyone So Angry?: A Philadelphia Story

I recently took a trip to Philadelphia to see my bff Sara who lives in Delaware. When I took my seat on the plane I noticed they were loading the luggage into the plane, so I watched to make sure that my suitcase (which was missing my luggage tags that my cousin stole) got into the cargo hold safely. Well, I didn’t see it get loaded so hence my worrying started. When I landed and went to baggage claim my suitcase had arrived…but not quite safely. At some point it must have been thrown so hard that it bent the hard plastic tube on the backside where the pull-along handle comes out. So there I am waiting by myself in an airport, digging my knee into the top of the suitcase while pulling on the handle… to no avail. So I proceeded to crouch over and pull my suitcase outside to wait for Sara on the sidewalk. There I had my first encounter with Philadelphia hospitality. Across the lanes where cars and buses come to pick up passengers, is the parking garage. I suddenly hear someone laying on their horn for at least 2 minutes. Thinking that a car alarm was going off I look up to see a 70-80 year old woman walking through the parking garage being closely followed by the car with said horn blowing. The lady turned around and looked at them like they were nuts. Well, she got out of the way and the car goes past her…slowly…they obviously weren’t in a hurry…just rude. Sara picked me up soon after as I regaled her with this story and we made our way to Newark. We were both starving, so after dropping off my bent luggage we went to a local sub shop (Capriotti’s I believe) which Sara claimed had the most amazing sandwich ever…. it was a concoction of turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. A whole Thanksgiving dinner on a bun. Since I am way too picky to attempt that kind of fare…I settled for an Italian…figuring that I should like it since I am Italian after all. And at least I was right, it was amazing and highly recommended. But I had to take a picture of the lumpy mess that Sara got…so here it is…

After picking up the subs, we stopped at the farmer’s market (run by mostly Mexican and Chinese people I believe) which had amazing prices and every type of odd food that you could possibly think of. I wish I had more time to explore the aisles. I did find some frozen octopus and a bag of tiny baby octopuses…very disturbing.

Friday we went to Philadelphia to tour many of the historical sites. We started out on South Street (which was supposed to have lots of cool stores) and we parked as soon as we pulled onto the street (in the ghetto accompanied with many cat calls), thinking that the stores couldn’t be too far away…. 20 blocks later we arrived at the stores…which really weren’t that exciting. And FYI everyone under 25 dresses like a streetwalker from the 80s, in various neon colored skinny jeans (boys and girls that is) and they walk in big bunches and practically push you into the street and won’t let you through. In the meantime we had to park at a meter with a 2-hour limit…because there is NO FREE PARKING anywhere in Philly. So we were running these 20 blocks looking for a bathroom because Sara has to pee every 5 minutes…literally.

After surviving the very under whelming South Street, we went to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. We searched for parking through all of the crazy narrow streets and angry drivers then settled for parking in the garage under the Liberty Bell. We raced upstairs, skipped all of the introductory hoopla and went straight to the bell. Once again, not very exciting. We went outside took a couple of pics of the Independence Hall from across the street and ran back inside to eat a VERY HOT hotdog. When I picked it up, I immediately dropped it back down because it burnt my hand. Then we went back to see how much we owed for parking…. $8.00!!! We were there for 45 minutes and didn’t even get to see anything really. This would never happen in St. Louis…historical sites should be free people!!!

We then made our way to the good part of the trip…. the East State Penitentiary…the world’s first penitentiary…which I’m pretty sure was on an episode of Ghost Hunters. I could have stayed there all day if it wasn’t so cold. Here are some pics…

We had parked down the hill from the penitentiary (in a miraculously free spot I found) near the Philadelphia Museum of Art…which cost $18!!! Pay? For an art museum?? They’re all free in St. Louis!! Insane. So I walked (Sara ran) to the museum to see some of the costume exhibits we wanted to see. Here are some pics from there…

After we were done with the museum, we were both so tired, sore, and sick of life that we decided to skip the ghost tour we were supposed to go on 3 hours later at the Liberty Bell. And it was raining anyway, so we went back to the car and headed back to Newark. The steak place that Sara wanted to go to was apparently out of business, and we were starving. So we went to Outback down the road and waited 30 minutes for a table. We were bored, so we both texted Ryan and told him that Sara left me in Philly cause we were fighting. So he was calling us back and forth, trying to get us to make up…he’s so gullible.
So we went home and went to sleep, but not before Sara’s next door neighbor stunk up the room with his pot smoke coming through the walls…lovely. Saturday we went to Lancaster to see the Amish and go to the Tanger outlet. Well, we drove right past all of the Amish stores to go to downtown Lancaster. Sara insisted on parking at a meter, because she thinks that you HAVE to pay to park everywhere in Pennsylvania, but it was free parking as we found out. So we went through the stores down Queen Street and ate at a crepe shop…which was delicious. Then it started raining as we explored all of the vintage stores. In one store, Sara found a costume diamond ring from the 50s before I got to it. It’s way too big for her and fits me perfectly. Here’s the pic to prove it….

Well, I couldn’t find another cool ring…but I did get some cat-eye sunglasses from the 50s…

When we finally decided to leave it was pouring down…like seriously a monsoon!! We were completely soaked and stopped at Tanger outlet to get clothes and slippers to change into in the car. Here are the pics of the flash flood we had to drive through to get back to Delaware…

We stopped at Taco Bell because we couldn’t go to a restaurant dressed like we were and we didn’t want to get wet again. So Cody came over and we carved pumpkins (very sticky and gross) that turned out awesome!! Here they are…

Sunday, we stopped at Main Street in Newark so I could get some Sweet and Sassy Cupcakes to bring home for me and my mom. They didn’t exactly survive the plane ride even though I made sure they stayed upright and didn’t get jostled the whole trip…mine still tasted good anyway. Now I’m going to peruse local vintage stores to find a ring better than the one Sara stole from me….