City of Brotherly Love

Thursday, March 12

View from our Hotel Window

This morning we packed up early and leaving our luggage with the hotel concierge, we spent a couple of hours tramping through the snow, taking in few more sites of the Freedom Trail. Then, it was time to hike back to our luggage and get to Boston's South Station.

Watching the scenery slip by the dirty train windows, we soon saw the last of Boston's snow. Without a map in front of us, we often could only guess what state we were in. Pausing in stations we could read what city we were in but otherwise, we just trusted that the train was headed to our correct destination.

One of the Many Cities We Rode Through

Interesting Bridge Structure

By the time we reached Philadelphia, our train was packed to the gills and running 3 ½ hours late. The large black man across the aisle from us was sprawled across four seats (a set of 2 facing another set) was muttering about "there ain't that much brotherly love...they throw rotten eggs at you.", along with singing the blues on the phone to his wife.

Philly was the only place on the trip I had a rental car reserved and I was concerned that the rental office would be closed by the time we disembarked. Thankfully, it wasn't. We used Alyssa's phone navigation to find our hotel, about 15 minutes away. Unfortunately, I missed a turn in the crazy traffic and took a less-than-idea route through their Chinatown. Finally we reached our hotel, a Holiday Inn Express, about a block from the Ben Franklin Bridge.  This beautiful structure spans the Delaware River, uniting Philadelphia with New Jersey.

Having missed supper, looked for vending machines but finding none, we asked at the front desk if there was a place close by that we could get a quick bite. It was 10:00 pm, so we didn't want much. She directed us to a French bistro next door named La Peg.

I don't remember enough high school French to know what bistro means but I was thinking maybe a little croissant and a cup of coffee. The reality was somewhat different. La Peg was fine dining...rabbit, octopus, and the whole works.

It was nearly 10:30 by the time I got my cup of root vegetable soup (the best ever!) and Alyssa got her cream puff with hazelnut filling (following the “life's uncertain, eat dessert first” theory). In the end, it was the most I've paid for the least but our tummies were full and we made it safely back to our hotel.