Dancing in the street, Philadelphia PA...

As I may have mentioned, I took a trip to Philly this weekend. Took a number of photos. Wanna see em? Here they are!

This is the time we pulled out. Yeah, frankly it amazes me I got up early enough to leave that early myself.

This is Ag, driving us up there. I'm not sure how we didn't wreck with her driving with eyes closed, but I'll just chalk it up to her superior driving skills.



So, you tell me...am I a morning person?



Once we reached Harrisburg, we had to drive down Front Street, right along the Susquehanna.



Our hotel was right downtown, directly across from City Hall! We were on the 10th floor, in a corner room, and we had THIS awesome view of Philadelphia City Hall.





Turning a slight bit to my right, this was our view!



Turning around, this was the view of our room from the window.



The hotel was SO hoighty-toity, they even had a phone next to the toilet!



We took a tour of a cruise ship docked in Philly and had a FABulous free meal of shrimp cocktail, salad, wine, steak, potatoes, carrots/brocoli, and a triple desert of a round piece of chocolate cake with whipped cream/a trianglular piece of vanilla cheescake/a square piece of strawberry souffle stuff, ALL of which was delish! Oh, and this is a photo of the ship itself.



The Royal Suite was the fanciest (and most expensive) suite on the ship, and they had large balcony, the view from which is below.



When we returned, I wanted to get a photo of myself standing in the window with the City Hall behind me...but, well, my fear of heights prevented that. So the best I could do was sit on the sill for the photo.



I was so tired from being up early and everything else, I just crashed on the bed.



After restin and relaxin a bit, I went outside to wait for Johnnie and down in the lobby I saw this really hot valet boy named Kole. So natch I had to get his photo.



I crossed the street and got a picture of the hotel we were staying in. We're on the tenth floor, the right corner of the building.



And heres a little better shot of our hotel. More inclusive of the whole building.



Now as I said, I was waiting for Johnnie, and I needed to keep myself occupied somehow. Luckily for me, this cute guy in a snugly fitted tshirt and tight pants paced back and forth a bit whilst talking on his cell phone. On the left in the photo below is him. (Yeah, I know it's not the best, I was TRYING to be inconspicuous, ya know?)



Also, a bit after that cute guy left (much to my disappointment) another cute guy showed up walking with his father. His mother and sister were there too, but luckily, I could keep them out of the photo.



And so, after a time of cute-guy-watching, Johnnie showed. WE hugged, right there in front of City Hall, and then walked around there a bit. Eventually, we decided to go see his univerisity: Penn. (oh, by the way, I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not, but Ag hung back at the hotel, she was tired and needed a nap).

We rode the subway there, which was an experience. I'm used to DC Metro. Philly's subway system was older, dirtier, graphitti ridden, and with not as anywhere NEAR as smooth or quiet a ride. I mean it got us to where we needed to go, and it was relatively cheap, but I don't know if I'd feel as comfortable riding it as I do DC's Metro or the ROcket in Toronto.

At any rate, we got off the subway and walked a few blocks to the campus. Since it's summer and school was not in session, there was less for me to gawk at than I hoped, but still, there was some eye candy. We also passed by the Institute of Anatomy, which made me snort and guffaw like a pimply-faced hormonal teenager, which is about the level of my sense of humor anyway.



We walked by the freshman quad where all the freshmen must live, which again made my long for classes to be in session, but what can I do? Johnnie then took me to the lab where he's working doing all that top secret research that he's not allowed to tell me about. It's on the tenth floor of this building and his desk is right next to a window and this is his view:



(bastard, all I get is four concrete block walls painted a dull off yellow color)

After this, we walked to his apartment, a few blocks off campus. All the walking was pleasant, as the heat of the week had disappated and the humidity was gone. It was sunny and I did get a bit red...perhaps just slightly pink. Nonetheless, on the way to his apartment, we walked by several frat and sorority houses, which were in like rowhouses. And on one porch was a frat boy, blonde, in a tight sleeveless white shirt with wide legged loose shorts. I got a nice quick view of his red and blue plaid boxers, but I didn't stare long nor attempt to get a photo cause I didn't want to get my ass kicked.

We made it to his place. It was small, but he doesn't need much. His big dog Montana was there, as was the cat (grrr) General Cho. While we were there, Johnnie sat on this chair and Montana, when he was done playing with me, skooched himself down and under the chair somehow. Was quite cute to see, so I got a photo.



I also got a photo of his apartment building,but you can't see his apartment. It is a first floor thing, though, so there's no stairs.



After leaving his apartment, we went to THE best Jewish deli in Philly: Koch's Deli. We ordered hoagies there, that were not only hand crafted for you, and were too large to eat in one sitting, but were DELICIOUS! I think I'll ask John to bring me one back everytime he comes home.



Johnnie and I both ordered one, and he ordered one for Ag as well. Then we walked through a...sketchy area of Philly to reach the nearest subway stop. Thankfully, it was daylight. We returned to the hotel and all three of us enjoyed our hoagies. WE also watched one of the Harry Potter movies. I got a photo of Johnnie sitting on the bed, and a photo of Ag who, for some reason, was wrapped up in the curtain.





Later on, after Johnnie left, I also got a photo of Ag wrapped up in the bedsheets. It wasn't that cold in there, even with the a/c going. I don't know what was up.



The next morning, I got a photo to show both sets of windows in the hotel room. Didn't intend on getting the messy beds too, but eh, whatcha gonna do?



Later that morning, I decided to walk around the few blocks surrounding the hotels. I stopped by Dunkin Donuts to get some for breakfast. But also, I got this cool shot of City Hall from the street.



After this, we walked the distance to the train station. Hotel was on 15th street, trains station on 30th street, but the blocks were small, and the weather was gorgeous and we just took our time and enjoyed the stroll. We hung out in the train station for about 4 hours I think, until our train left. The ride back was nice, but uninteresting.

Oh, except for this really hot guy on the train that sat facing us. he was about 5'11, but thin, maybe 20? He wore a light blue shirt, and blue and red plaid shorts. He wore a bracelet and a few rings. He had dark black hair, and large eyes, and an infectious smile, hairy legs, and was naturally tanned. I immediately pegged him as being gay, and wanted a photo of him. I had the perfect opportunity when he fell asleep facing me with an iPod playing in his ear. But...well, I chickened out. Didn't have the balls to take a photo of him. Later, I heard him talking to an older lady riding with him and they were speaking Italian. So he wasn't gay, he was just European...easy mistake to make, right? but as i listened to them talk, and saw his gestures, and watched him walk past on his way the bathroom, I came to the conclusion that he was both gay AND European. *SIGH*

Anyway, that was pretty much our trip (except for the $32 dollars it took us to park overnight in Harrisburg in the parking garage and except for me missing a turn in Harrisburg and getting lost on my way to the Interstate and having to call my cousin's husband to find a map to help us...but we shall never talk of either of those things again). And a fun time was had by all.

POLT = listening to "Carouselambra" by Led Zeppelin

You animals forget there's a fucking LADY in the room! - Patsy, Scotland PA