Philadelphia

Every year Sara, Amanda, Marie, and I go somewhere fun for a girls' weekend. We almost missed our chance this year as Amanda is especially busy with her MBA program, but we managed to pull together an excellent weekend on the East Coast and visited Philadelphia.

Our first stop, of course, was to find a good cheesesteak. While the sandwich rivalry between Pat's and Gino's is fun, we eventually found a better cheesesteak inside Reading Terminal Market at a place called Carmen's.

11-6-15

We also took a walk around the city at night and enjoyed this fountain, representing the three waterways in Philly, the LOVE statue, and the city hall.

City Hall

LOVE

We stayed right across the street from the Reading Terminal Market, which is filled with vendors of all kinds selling fresh, delicious foods. We made a big mistake waiting until Sunday to try to purchase an Amish donut. The Amish, obviously, don't work on Sundays. :(

Reading Terminal Market

The next day we visited the historic downtown and saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall before it started raining. We then decided to hop on a covered bus to see the rest of the city.

A pretty awesome group. Photo Credit: Some lady with Marie's camera

Independence Hall

Marie and I ran up the Art Museum steps, Rocky-style.

The "AMOR" statue is the clear winner in terms of aesthetics and location. I was underwhelmed by "LOVE".

Rocky

Enjoying the town by bus.

Rodin Museum

My favorite part of the weekend was probably high tea at the Rittenhouse Hotel. Having tea is something we finally acknowledged is an indispensable girls' weekend tradition, seeing as the majority of the group have had tea in DC, Denver, San Francisco, and now Philadelphia together.

Sara & Amanda

Marie & I

Dessert

On Sunday, we toured the Eastern State Penitentiary ruins. It looks like a castle, but it's really an old, creepy jail that drove people into insanity. What could be better? This was an excellent tour.

The incarceration rate in the US from 1900 to today.

Al Capone's cell

Amazing! I always have fun with these gals. Thanks for another great weekend!