Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Day 4 - 10th July - Philadelphia

UP at 8.00 then down to the first workshop. By 8.30am was so tired could hardly keep eyes open. I think this was because the breafast provided was really poor - pastries only, which I hate. They did have a yoghurt there as well which I thought was healthy, until I looked at the nutrition info to find it had 9g of saturated fat!! My poor heart!

By 11.00am I was so tired I slipped out of the workshops and went back to bed and slept til 12.30pm. Met the Duck group at 1pm in lobby, then walked down to the Duck tour. A bus tour round Philly that takes you over land and on to the Delaware River. It wasn't that good- but it did give you an indication of areas to explore later. The Delaware River was filthy - and if you think Auckland Bridge is bad - the bridge over the river is rusting really badly - you could see it!!

After the Duck Tour Mike and I headed over to South Street - a famous street in America. We called in on the Liberty Bell on the way. Took lots of photos - incredible architecture - red bricks, OLD OLD. South Street was a real education too. An eclectic mix of sex shops, condom shops, restaurants, irish pubs, designer fashion, homeless people, drug addicts, historical landmarks tourists, police and doorways covered with graffiti. I managed to get a photo of a woman being arrested. All highly entertaining and interesting!!! We lunched at a boring establishment - but cheap - Subway - $5 for a footlong sub which we shared. $2.50 each!!

At the End of South Street we found the Vietnam Memorial, then the Korean one, then found an old historical building which was the first stock exchange of USA. Back to the hotel to change the memory card of my camera. Silly me left my 2gb flash card at home by mistake, so only have two 1gb ones - which is difficult when you shoot in RAW mode. We then walked to Elthrey's Alley which is USA's Oldest street. I'm sure I thought Quebec City street was older, but Elthrey's Alley is actually Trademarked (law) as the oldest street so it must be!! The alley was incredible - lots of photos, Walked to Benjamin Franklins Graveyard after that - but it was closed and I never did get back to get more photos of it. Txted Kim to find out where she was - she told me City Tavern, so we walked over in the general direction of that - Walnut Street and 2nd. On the corner of Walnut St and 2nd, I txt Kim again to find out where she was, to find she had left a message to say she wasn't at city tavern afterall but at Rotten Ralphs!!! We just happened to be standing right outside it - so up the stairs to sit with them and while away a few hours. Back to the hotel for non existent hot chocolate - no hot drinks available in hotel after 10pm. Ludicrous!!

Footsore and weary!

Cheers
Robyn

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