A Quick Stop in Philly: May 2021

Day 1

We began our adventure by picking up my cousin Allison from her parents' place in Baltimore. She is up in Maryland from her home in Atlanta, Georgia. Since Philly's main attraction is her sister Katie and husband Daniel, it made sense for her to catch a ride with us.

On the ride there, we talked, listened to music, then arrived at Katie's house around 8/8:30pm. We had the traditional Philly meal of cheesesteaks, which were unsurprisingly amazing. We spent the evening catching up and then left around 10:30pm to park our car for the weekend and make our way to the Residence Inn Philadelphia City Center, right next to City Hall. I booked this hotel with Marriott points that I had.

Our room would be considered nice if Cori hadn't spoiled me with hotel rooms for the past few years. I mean, the kitchen was visible from the bed- who lives like this? I'd like the world to know that Keith's bougie tendencies are not because of me. As long as a room is clean and has a decent bed, I'm happy. We had a full kitchen, which in my opinion is pretty nice.

Day 2

We begin our day by moseying over to Reading Terminal Market, which was only a couple of blocks from our hotel. We looked around, most of the stalls were just opening up but it seems like we beat the crowd. We had breakfast at Molly Malloy's. We split avocado toast, which was alright, and each of us had their biscuit breakfast sandwich. It was delicious, but had to be eaten with knife and fork- that's how you know it's good. Breakfast was really yummy, while the avocado toast had limited avocado, the toppings were a nice addition. Have to agree on the sandwich, I had mine with turkey bacon and it was amazing.

From there, we traveled to the Eastern State Penitentiary, where we met my cousins for a tour. We each got audio tour headsets and the main tour was narrated by Steve Buscemi. Eastern State Penitentiary was considered one of the model prisons of the time, as its main purpose was not to punish but to rehabilitate by giving prisoners plenty of quiet time to sit in penance. This was kind of ironic because the conditions would likely drive anybody insane. Charles Dickens was one of the few people of the time to say "I'd rather be flogged than live like this."

The tour was very informative about the design and history of the prison from the 19th century through the 1960s. They gave a lot of great insights and comparisons about the modern prison system, and how reform is very much needed in the current system. It was actually really nice to see the comparisons and criticism of today's prison system, they approached this with hard statistics and and objective view. This is also one of the best audio tours I've ever taken, we were there for at least 2 hours!

Two features of note for me were the story of Pep the Dog and the many art installations that were showcased throughout the prison. I also took a ton of photos throughout the tour.

From there, we traveled back to Reading Terminal Market, where the crew split up to find lunch. With lunch acquired, we went back to our hotel room to eat together. I had DiNic's famous roast pork sandwich, which is considered another Philly staple, but I'd recommend the cheesesteak instead.

After eating, my cousins went home to take care of some business while Cori and I rested our weary minds. Around 4pm we made our way to the Mutter Museum for our second scheduled event of the trip, for those unaware, this is a medical museum run by the The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The museum was very interesting to visit, as it is known for showcasing medical oddities and preserving bodily samples. I will say, there were a few points that made my stomach feel queasy. I was honestly surprised at the small size of the museum and expected to see weirder stuff. We also weren't able to see the Medicinal Plant Garden because there was a wedding being set up, so I was disappointed in that. I will say, the gift shop was a big highlight for me.

From there we retired back to Katie & Daniel's home, where we ordered in Dim Sum Garden for dinner. I had soup dumplings for the first time, they were very delicious. I successfully introduced my family to the show "Taskmaster," a British TV show I've become very fond of over the last year. Keith introduces this show to anyone and everyone that he can. We had a great evening together and then Cori and I made our way back to our hotel room and went to bed.

Day 3

We woke up, packed our stuff since we were checking out of the hotel, and tried to grab breakfast at Reading Terminal Market around 9am (a little bit later than the morning before) but the crowds in there were a little much. We didn't have a ton of time, because we needed to be at our next stop right at noon. So we crossed the street and got bagels at Panera. We retrieved our vehicle from the parking garage and made our way to Longwood Gardens, about an hour from downtown Philly.

Longwood Gardens was the former palatial estate of the Dupont family, which is known for its beautiful gardens, flora, and fountains. We had a great time exploring the gardens and grounds and seeing all of the beautiful flowers. I highly recommend this as a destination, and it seems like they do some fun things around the holidays.

I absolutely LOVED Longwood Gardens. We probably only saw about half of what they have to offer. I took hundreds of photos and wound up falling behind our group quite a few times. The indoor gardens were my favorite (maybe because it was a bit rainy), but literally everything was so beautiful. I will be going back.

After a healthy amount of time in the gift shop, we departed back to Baltimore after a very successful trip.