Philly Baby

We woke up in our incredibly cheap motel and hadn't been robbed or suffered from bed bugs so we were pretty pleased. Atlantic City was cold and a bitter wind was blowing, but we packed up the car and went for a walk along the boardwalk before having breakfast in the (in)famous Taj Mahal Casino. The Taj is crude and hugely tacky even by casino standards with it's overuse of fake gold trim and imitation Indian motifs. The cats were out in force again and we discovered the were lucky enough to be part of a 'catch, neuter, release' programme on the Atlantic City boardwalk. We were lucky enough to listen to a woman who was happily sitting on a bench on the boardwalk singing LOUD to no one in particular.

We got back in the beast of a vehicle and after experiencing some crazy American drivers on the motorway. It seems fellow motorists pride themselves on their ability to block any potential lane changes. Hazard negotiated, we arrived in Philadelphia around midday. The weather was lovely, and we started our search in the Old City for a place to stay for the night. The first sight we came across was a flood of gushing water coming towards us down the street and at least five fire engines roaring down the street. Turns out a water main had burst and had started gushing just before we arrived, it was the main news on the Philadelphia news channel later that evening.

That's Supposed to be a Street

We had a bit of a mission trying to find cheap accommodation, but ended up at the Comfort Inn after stopping for lunch at Reading Terminal Markets. The markets were absolutely packed and a heaven for foodies. Fraser and Sam ventured off to Walmart to get supplies like pillows, plates, snack food and toiletries while Amy and I sat in the hotel lobby with 50 other people and waited an hour and 30 minutes for our room to be ready. This was our first bad experience of customer service, up till then the service has lived up to expectation and has been very good. The lengthy wait proved almost worth it as our 9th floor room had a lovely outlook over the river.

View out the Hotel Window - One Window was Hurt in the Making of this Photo

We had a bit of a lame Saturday night of doing washing at the laundromat, but finished the night off with a massive pizza, salad, spicy chicken wings and beer that tasted like tea at a small fast food joint called Soho Pizza. Our one encounter on the way home was with a beautiful Akita dog called Zoe. Her owner let us pat her, she was very soft and downy, and loved people. Old town Philly is really beautiful with numerous restaurants and trendy watering holes complementing the rich history associated with the civil war and birth of the country. We will surely explore the heritage in more detail tomorrow.