Philly and NYC

Alex and I have had a really great week. We ate a ton of good food, walked all over the place, spent time with family, and enjoyed more history. Since my last blog we went from Baltimore, Maryland to Springfield, Massachusetts. In between those places we had a ton fun and memories that will last a lifetime. I'm only going to touch on the major highlights of our travels since my last blog. We didn't really get to experience Baltimore due to horrible rain. We almost didn't get to experience Philadelphia, but the weather cleared up for a day. Most of our travels and sight-seeing is outdoors, so when the weather is bad that means we don't do much.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia was neat. It's a really big city and can be a little intimidating at first. We found a place to park in the downtown area and did a lot of walking around. First on our list was to see the famous Liberty Bell. It's the bell with the crack in it. I guess the first time it was rung it cracked. I'm really not even sure why it is so famous. The line was ridiculously long to see the Bell in person. There were probably about 200 people waiting outside the building to see the Liberty Bell, and that doesn't include how many people were waiting inside the building. There were more historical sites on our list to see, so we skipped out on the Liberty Bell, but we did take a picture of it through the window. That was good enough for me.

The Line to see Liberty Bell

The Liberty Bell

We walked a little more and found the church that Benjamen Franklin attended. I even got to sit in the assigned pew that Ben Franklin sat in. The church is really old. It's called Christ Church and it is a part of the Church of England. One thing that I think is really weird is that the church had grave stones inside the church in the aisle. So, when you walk down the aisle you are walking over someone's grave. It's just weird for me to think, "I'm walking over someones dead body right now." When I was in London, the Westminster Abbey had graves like that, too. It must of been tradition to bury the dead inside the church. The cemetery that Ben Franklin is buried in is just a few block down from Christ Church. So, after going to the church we headed down to see Ben Franklin's grave. I've never seen people throw coins on a grave before, but there were people doing it on Franklin's grave. I haven't researched the reason behind it. The day we saw his grave was actually the day he died, April 17th. So, that was kind of cool.

Ben Franklin's Church

The Pew Ben Franklin sat in

Ben Franklin's Grave

We couldn't leave Philadelphia without having a Philly Cheesesteak. We went to this place right outside of Downtown Philly that supposedly has the best Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. I forget the name of it, but it was really good. I don't really have anything to compare it to because I don't think I've ever had a Philly Cheesesteak before this one. It's usually not my first choice of a sandwich on a menu.

Downtown Philly

Downtown Philly

On Monday the 18th, we drove up to New York City. I loved NYC!!! I could probably go on for days about how wonderful it was, but I won't. My cousin, Noah and his Fiancee Chiala live in New York City, so we got to spend some time with them. They also have a house in Massachusetts, which we stayed at, too. Noah showed us around the East village area in Manhattan the first day we were there. East Village is a cute part of the City. It has every variety of food you can think of, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Middle Eastern, Jewish, etc. The list just goes on and on. We enjoyed a bagel at a Jewish deli, Ukrainian coffee and a New York slice of pizza. We actually had quite a bit of New York Pizza:) We had to take advantage of the opportunity.

The view from my cousin's apt

Lady Liberty

Lox and Cream Cheese

It rained the next day we were in New York, which was so lame, but we still had fun. We bought an umbrella and tried to share it, but that didn't work out so well. I just ended up using the umbrella most of the time. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to try to stay dry. The Museum is huge!!!! It would probably take days to go through the whole thing. We spent about two hours there and were worn out. It had all kinds of stuff. Tons of European Medieval period stuff, Roman Sculptures and coins, Renaissance stuff, Royal furnishings from the 17th and 18th centuries and that is just to name a few.

Raining in NYC

Ground Zero

Downtown Manhattan

Now that I'm thinking about, I think I waited to long to write a blog. I feel like I don't know what to write and what to leave out. I just feel kinda scattered. I totally had time to write a blog earlier, too.

New York Stock Exchange

On the second day in New York, the day it rained, we went to a comedy club and it was really fun. I went into it not thinking it was going to be really funny, but it really was funny. It ended up costing us a ton of money, but I guess that is expected in New York City. You can't expect to go to New York and not spend a lot of money. It just doesn't work out that way.

The third day in New York was a really nice day. The sun came out and it got a little warm. We walked the entire length and width of Central Park, which is a very long trek. We probably walked about 5 miles just in the park. Central Park is really beautiful. It's full of gardens, hiking trails, old monuments, bridges, ponds, and a few buildings. I would call it a gem in the middle of the city.

Central Park

Central Park

We used the subway most of the time to get around Manhattan, which was really easy after the first day. After spending three days, I felt like I knew how to get around all of Manhattan. I really want to go back to New York City again. I don't think we had enough time there. The city is wonderful and I can see why so many people live there. It's a great place.

Time Square

Empire State Building

We drove up to Springfield, Massachusetts and stayed with my cousin at his home. We didn't really get a chance to check out Springfield, but we did take a short day trip to a small town north of Springfield called Northampton. I really liked Northampton. It reminded me a little of Berkley, CA. We walked around the main street and enjoyed browsing through boutiques and antique shops. Everything there was really unique.

The weather has turned ugly on us, yet once again. We just arrived in Boston and will be here for about three days. I will try to blog again when we leave Boston, so that it is still fresh in my mind.