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Published: November 27th 2008
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Betsy Ross House
So. Much. America. The last morning that I spent in Philadelphia was more sightseeing. I had a couple of errands to run and then decided to stop and get some breakfast at a café called Mrs K’s. Apparently it is quite well known to locals, according to the woman I asked for a recommendation. The food was pretty much, but as ever it was far too much for me to manage. To try and work some of the breakfast off I walked up to Betsy Ross’ house which is in a lovely area by lots of great shops including several clothing boutiques and a lovely gourmet food shop. When I reached the house/museum I was overawed by the bunting and flags and Americana all over the place. To be expected - especially the flags - but it comes as a shock in a rather sober area to suddenly see nothing but red, white and blue. The house was to one side, a very tall and thin building, with the museum just before it behind a wide court-yard. There was a (very unsuccessful) book-signing going on in the shop and I wandered around for a little while and grabbed a couple of stickers and postcards
to remind me of it all. I paid in change to try and get rid of the coins that were getting so heavy. The poor girl behind the till tried to be okay with it for as long as she could but clearly would rather have not had to bother. I do love paying in small change because it feels like it’s not really spending money. I then walked a little off the beaten path to try and get more towards the Delaware river and bridges (Benjamin Franklin and Walt Whitman) but there was a pretty huge highway there so I didn’t really manage. On the way I saw Elfreth’s Alley, which used to have all of the traditional crafts makers shops. It was a very pretty street, narrow and reminded me a lot of villages in Northumberland. I also passed the Arden theatre on the way but things seemed to be changing over there as there was not a great deal of publicity about any of the shows. At the final street (Front Street) before the highway there was a statue to ***, and just around the corner from it there was a sign stating that the London Pub
used to be there. Quite ironic that the last thing I saw in Philadelphia was named after my home city.
I wandered back to the hostel quite slowly as I had a bit of time to kill and went into a little sweet shop where I made the horrific mistake of buying a bag of rock candy because I’d not seen it before. People - be warned - this level of addictive properties would make crack addicts look like they needed an occasional sugary coffee. The people working in the shop were delightfully quirky and could have happily have been extras in Acorn Antiques. I went back into the hostel and got all of my bags and then walked down Market Street to the K-Mart where I grabbed a Phillies top and walked across the road to the Greyhound Station. The bus boarded about twenty minutes before we were due to leave and we sat in the station for a while. I was sat on my own for the first half hour or so of the trip and then someone came and sat next to me. I am here to tell you that there is no greater joy in this
world than sitting on a full Greyhound bus, next to an angry Hispanic man in a white Stetson, listening to Prince ‘Kiss’ and Elton John’s ‘The Bitch is Back’. Best part of the trip. What I could see of the journey between Philadelphia and Baltimore was lovely - lots of water and woods but it got dark pretty quickly.
When I got to Baltimore I had no idea that it was dangerous but I had been told by the Hostel that I should not try to walk and the buses had a couple of changes so I got a taxi to the hostel. I managed to get their Fall offer which let you get the third night free if you’d paid for two nights. I checked into my room and unpacked a little, then a couple of girls came in who had been staying there a few nights already. They were not very hungry but took me to an Irish Pub that they had been to a couple of nights ago and so I went with them which was great. Hannah and Jen had a crab dip which they shared and I had a grilled cheese. The food was okay
and the place was nice but they were pretty busy and people were rushing us out. We were trying to hang around to see if the band that was setting up were any good but they were being so slow we gave up and went back to the Hostel and hung out with a few of the guys that were staying there and friends with the girls. We sat around playing on the grand piano and reading free books that people had left in the hostel. I eventually crashed out pretty early.
The next day the girls were going to Washington DC and I headed down to the Inner Harbour to look around and wander through some of the shops. The aim of staying in Baltimore was to relax and unwind after the craziness of the week before. I saw the USS Constellation in the Harbour and the museums. I got something to eat at a burger place called Johnny Rocket’s and then went up to the observation deck of the World Trade Center. It was a lovely view up there and such a nice day, inside out of the wind but sitting in the sun were lovely. In stayed
up there for a little while and then did a bit of shopping on the way home. In the evening, Jen, Hannah and the guys from Colombia got back from D.C. and we all ordered in Chinese. There was a wonderful woman staying in our room who runs a business helping women in Africa by designing and selling jewellery. Her website is amazing: http://www.denurcrafts.org/. We all sat and chatted and had some food and it was a great night in, I had to crash early again because once I had slowed down I was falling asleep all the time. The last day I spent in Baltimore I walked around and went to a little bookshop that was amazing. I walked around some of the older areas as well which was really pretty. I headed back to the hostel pretty early and read for quite a while so I could be ready to go and got a taxi to Penn station. The taxi driver was an absolute arse and we had only gone to the end of the street when he missed turning the corner and trashed the wheel. I got out and took my bags out to get a new
cab, he was actually hinting that I should pay him for the privilege of getting whiplash. I got another cab no problem because I was on the main street and got to the station no problem. I met Bec and Jess just outside the station and we headed back to their house where I got to see Gail and Tony again. It is so good being with old friends again, especially over the holidays.
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Gemma
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So i looked at the picture entitled 'boat' and the 1st thing i saw was its name ...I wanted it to be a perfect anagram of Shakespeare but its not and that makes me sad!