Flight home

The plane loaded up on time, but then sat on the runway for about 45 minutes for our turn to take off. This was the first time flying with BA, I'm sure they all try to outdo each other with crap food, at least I got 2 cans of beer out of them which nearly got spilt due to turbulence. It's not a very long flight this one at 7 hours and they hadn't squashed the seats together too much in cattle class. 

Even though we were about 45 minutes late leaving is caught up most of the time, so arrived only 10 minutes late at 7am, this was also our first time at terminal 5 so you have to get a train for the 1 minute ride to baggage claim and with the number of people crammed in this isn't the best idea, you could probably walk in the amount of time we stood there but this is the only way you can go.

The bag came out with more boot prints on it as well, so I'm glad we didn't buy anything that was breakable, by 8 o'clock we were in the taxi heading home arriving just about 9:40. 

And so ends Philly, we missed out some places we had planned due to the heat, you don't want to be wandering around the zoo when it feels like 40 centigrade and others didn't seem worth the expense of going in but everything else sort of went to plan, we could have got a few more things done quicker if the bus service wasn't crap with big gaps in the service, but they were nice and cool inside with the AC on and windows that don't open, the only other problem with the buses is they all drive like a bastard and with hard shiny plastic seats it can be difficult trying not to slide out of it. 

at least my phone worked at no extra cost.

My parting photo will be of the temperatures we had each day made into a graph with the RealFeel temp as well. Perhaps with a little less heat we could have got a bit more done as well, but this seems to be the case every time we go on holiday, I think we have only had one vacation where it wasn't hot and that was New York City in November.

Temperatures are centigrade 

Adios Philly 2019, and thanks for reading.

Con Burnes 

Time to go

Today's photos

Time to go, we had to check out by 11am so there is plenty of time to get some breakfast from Wawa just along the road. We actually have some rain and it's about 14 degrees cooler this morning for a change, but by the time we get home, it will be boiling hot there. We then walked to City Hall and caught the local line to 30th Street Station before changing to the bus replacement service which turned out to be quicker than getting the train.

Chill out day

Today's photos

As today is our last full day we just decided to chill out around City Hall, it was supposed to have cooled down today, but it didn't feel any different than yesterday, it's still hot and really humid. All of the things we wanted to do today were in easy walking distance, but being out in the heat every day for the last 10 days is starting to its toll on us I think and by the looks of it, it will probably be only about 10-degrees cooler at home.

Although we had pasted it many times as we come out of the hotel is The Well's Fargo History Museum, which became the first national bank in the USA during the gold rush era. We went on one in San Francisco a few years ago and they are really interesting places,  they explain a lot about how money and gold were transported around the country and I found out where the word riding shotgun came from, another good thing is you tend to be the only people in these museums.

A short walk from there around the corner you come to Macy's department store. The first entrance was the strangest place you come in as you have to go up to level 2 in the elevator, but when you get into it there just letters for each floor like ST, LR and so on and not in any order. After pushing many buttons we just ended up back on the same floor so come out and went in around the corner. 

This has to be one of the grandest shops you could ever go to compete with one of the world's biggest pipe organs, it's hard to explain so your best just looking at the photographs of it.

Next was a quick trip around City Hall to the visitor's shop to buy some nicknacks then the plan was going to Wendy's for some lunch, but apart from there being nowhere to sit it was a bit of a dump. Plan B was to backtrack past Macy's to McGillans Olde Ale House which is well hidden down a back ally. I found this place by pure chance whilst planning places to eat and drink on Google Maps and you would never know it was here otherwise, it's that well hidden just off the main road. For $28 we got a lovely turkey and mash, 2 pints of IPA and a couple of Cokes. 

After that, we were all stuffed and done in so decided to head back to the hotel as it's still too hot to wander the streets.

The plan was to have a sit down for a bit then go for a stroll, we knew there was going to be some heavy rain about 4 or 5 o'clock, but when I checked AccuWeather it had now turned into a cat 3 storm and they duly informed me that it would strike in the next few minutes. Almost like magic the sky went dark, the wind went insane and the torrential rain started. Thundering and lightning soon followed, then bits of signage from buildings started coming past the window, as we are 8 floors up that's not the normal thing you would see going past your window. Then there was a plastic chair in the road that seemed very happy to slam into people's cars and I couldn't see the parasols from the hotel roof patio anymore so perhaps somebody is impaled with one now!

Once the rain stopped after about an hour and the wind died down I took a walk to take some photos, one thing I bought a while ago was a bracket that would hold my phone on a small tripod so stuck it in a bag and bunged it in my back pocket. I thought it was odd that nobody had given me any hassle and it was only when I took it out of my back pocket in the elevator, I may have found the reason although it was covered by a long shirt most of the time.

In a bag

Not in a bag

In use

And I suppose that's where today ends now, time eat everything we have in the fridge and sup the last remaining cans of beer. Check out is 11am (EDT) tomorrow, so there is time for some breakfast before we have to get 30th Street Station, due to the engineering works going on, its probably easier to get local transport there rather than get regional rail one-stop as we still have enough credit left on our Speta Key Cards to do it.

King of Prussia Mall

Today's photos

It's Kermit the Frog hot today, like in the swamp hot, I thought yesterday was bad, but it was definitely worst today that's why we did what we did yesterday so today there was just one thing, a bus ride of 30 miles out to the King of Prussia Shopping Mall. This place is vast and holds the record for the largest indoor retail shopping floor space in the USA, the only other place that is bigger, has a theme park inside and I think that is in Florida! The irony is it's probably cooler in Florida at the moment.

It was a bit of a dash to get up to City Hall bus stop to catch the #124 as we had planned on catching a bus from just outside the hotel for the 3 stops, but sod all was showing on the map so its quicker to walk rather than miss it as the next #124 was about 50 minutes. One of the shops we wanted to look at was Dicks Sporting Goods that has so many rifles for sale you could start a war, the ammunition is on the shelves like tins of beans but unfortunately, they no longer sell handguns, shame. After having ice cream and doing my 10,000 steps walking the shops it time for a beer, but before that I just had to go the Microsoft Store and play with all the really cool stuff you can't afford unless you look at the Surface Go stuff.

Unless you go to the high-end restaurants the mall is alcohol-free, but if you cut through Primark go up one floor, out the door, cross the parking lot, cross a road, then into another parking lot you come across The Fox & Hounds, it's not as far as it sounds, but these places are not designed for walking or wheeling so you do need to scamper quickly through parking lots and across roads to avoid getting squished. The pub is a bit like Spoons but with only 1 bar staff on duty who can still serve people faster, they also start a tab for everyone so you pay when you leave and lets face its just too damn hot to do a runner, 2 drinks each came to $13 total I was drinking stuff that's 7%. Now there was a tough choice, it's 4:10 and there is a bus at 4:40 or the next one is about 5:30pm, it's time to go, now, shame.

We backtracked through Primark to the Lego shop (I would have gone in but it's always full of kids) then down a narrow corridor to where we left the bus stop parked, got to remember stuff now I am 50. It was a pretty packed bus ride back, but it is a scenic journey along the Schuylkill River where we got to see some more of the 2-mile long freight trains going past. 

When we got off the bus it was like somebody had put a hair dryer on you, a red hot wind was blowing so it was time to grab a quick sandwich from Wawa to eat later in the cool of the hotel room.

About 7:30 I went on a beer run and tried to get some more pictures before the sun went down and the crazy people come out, it was a bit hit and miss with the photos, but look what I found in the booze shop, I didn't bother buying one to try because it tastes like crap even at home now.
Boddies does not travel well, even from Wales to Manchester and given the price I wasn't tempted so stuck with the Bud in cans or IPA in pubs.

Most of the beer in pubs is an IPA and served ice cold, which I like in a glass that has been on ice, how will I cope with the warm beer at home?
So tomorrow is our last full day here and we have got through most things, we also ditched some stuff like the zoo and a couple of other things due to the heat but I always tend to over plan anyway. One thing I must say it that THREE Mobile have been true to their word about supplying me with data, calls and text at no extra charge. Ok, you don't get the full 4G speed, it's more of a supercharged 3G, but it was invaluable in this heat when they run a crap bus service and massive gaps between vehicles. I don't rely just on the web I also download all my maps offline and carry a power pack that will charge my phone about twice, but there is nothing like the power of the web to aid you in a trip when it works of course. 

Schuylkill River & Cira Green

Today's photos

It's hot hot hot, but we decided to throw caution to the wind or the sun and hop around some places by bus and even the trolley tram.

The idea today was that even though it was going to be melting temperature we could get around avoiding most of the heat by bus, then dropping into various places either to have something to eat, drink or a station, they all have air conditioning, the trick is to try & use the real timing when it works so you arrive at the bus stop without having to long to wait.

A short walk south from the hotel took us to Lombard Street, this has to be timed right, otherwise you have a 30 or more wait for a bus, we arrived with about 5 minutes to spare, then caught the number 40 bus to South Street & 27th from there it's a ramp down onto the Schuykill River Boardwalk. This is all constructed from steel due to the water height can flood it, then freeze in the winter at which point it could crush a wooden structure. Either way, it makes a great rolling surface. We walked about a quarter of a mile along here before having to climb a set of steps up onto Walnut Street then into the Boars Head which isn't a pub. This is basically a mixture of a sandwich shop and a convenience store that I can only imagine caters for the massive office blocks around here so had a sausage and egg sandwich with orange juice. This is one of those places that you build your own sandwich on a touch screen so they only put on it what you want which saves you time picking off stuff that I'm not even sure of its name.

Above this shop is 11 floors of the car park, but at the very top is a rooftop garden, called Cira Green, complete with a bar and a large TV screen. From here you get an excellent view of the city and can see the Amtrak trains going into 30th Street Station, there was also a nice breeze up here and plenty of chairs to relax in. It's a bit manic in the city so this was a welcome relief just to get away from people for a while, Apparently, this is going to be a year-round venue and today was a Mario Kart challenge on the big screen but we wouldn't be there at 3 o'clock when 144 started racing until it was the last man standing.  

Next, we walked 1 block to 30th Street Station, there are two reasons for this, the first like most city's the architecture is fantastic in these places they cared when they built this stuff. It's built, on legs so all the tracks are underneath it, most things are done online now so the old ticket offices have been turned into cafes and the like, the place is clean, pigeon & homeless free!

No aggressive begging in here.

Second is that from today they have shut the mainline from the city to the airport for a month, so it's best to work out where we need to go to get the shuttle next week, I don't like surprises and some of the station staff we have come across are not too helpful. 

We had a swift drink in the bar on here then headed down underground to the trolley tram service, even though the platform is fully accessible this tram wasn't, I'm not sure if that's the case with all of them, but seems a bit pointless putting stuff in if you then have to climb 3 very tall steps to get on. It was only 1 coach as well, so maybe they run 2 coach trams with a lower access level on one of the carriages like in Boston at times, who knows.

Anyhow, it was quicker than getting the bus, it was only 3 stops, 5 minutes or about 20 on the bus. 

We came out near City Hall and walked through into Love Park, we tried to get ice cream from Macdonald's but they had sold out plus didn't have any air conditioning, we then headed to the Fine Arts Institute just round the corner that has a couple of strange items outside.

By now the heat was getting to me so just a short walk from here was Reading Terminal Market that we went in the other day, the AC works in here they have an ice cream parlour as well as a reasonably priced bar so spent 90 minutes in there watching the baseball.

So all that was left to do now was to consult Google Maps because CityMapper had got really weird on my phone and kept turning the brightness down to a point where I could not see what was going on anymore. This seems to be a problem that plagued it for a while now and was really starting to bug me. Basically, what happened when you open the app, it turns the brightness all the way down sometimes. The result in the bright sunlight is you cannot see the screen on the phone anymore. You can also not see the controls to turn the brightness back up which then makes your phone useless. 

Goodbye CityMapper once I managed to turn the brightness back up or at least Jane did for me then uninstalled it, I'm fed up with crappy apps, CityMapper used to be good, but it's turned into shit like most transit apps (I even had one that you had to tell it where you were so you could pick a stop from thousands then it would tell you the times from the stop even though it was location-aware) they even try to cram crap like electric scooters into them when they still have problems like this, build a different app for all the weird stuff.  Google Maps aren't much better as it loves to tell the last 6 buses all left on time, I'm not sure what use that is for anyone who wants to catch a bus if it's left on time 56 minutes ago?

That's my rant over with.

So we were back at the hotel to cool off by 5:30 but I decided after having to have something to eat to go for an evening walk, unfortunately, there are far too many aggressive beggars around here and most of them are just using it as an excuse to deal drugs which goes on fairly openly it would seem.

The Franklin Institute

Today's photos

It's really hot and humid today, but at least there is not going to be any heavy rain, it's supposed to be getting hotter over the weekend with tomorrow going to be the hottest day so far. 

I didn't feel too good today so there aren't many photos, we only had one place planned to go and that was the Franklin Institute which is a science and industry museum. 

The best place to be is inside on days like this, it's not so much the heat, it's the humidity that zaps the energy out you.

Once we got out of the hotel it was really hot, but didn't have to wait too long for a bus which dropped just across the road. It's not cheap to go in here so I was hoping it was going to be good, but I wish we hadn't bothered now. Considering some of the other ones we have been in there wasn't much to look at and the displays were fairly small, I think the best part was the planetarium at the end where we got to sit in the dark for 30 minutes most of which we spent asleep.

When we came out about 3 o'clock it was too hot to go walking about with a real feel temperature of 41 centigrade, so decided the best thing to do was to get a bus back to the hotel, get a sandwich from a nearby shop and chill out for the rest of the day.

If you spend too much time out in this heat your probably going to end up with heat stroke or something like that. 

About 8:30 we decided to go out and get something to eat, as its Friday night most restaurants are packed, but they normally do takeaway as well, so ended with spaghetti and meatballs, $20 it's not cheap but there was more than enough for both of us and it was really nice. Even though this place was a couple of blocks away it's not going to go cold in this heat, at 9 o'clock in the evening, it's 32c with a real feel of 38c and 71% humidity. 

Fairmount Water Works

Today's photos

Today is cloudy with rain expected, so what was planned for today wasn't probably going to happen.

We didn't have time to finish everything yesterday, so thought it was best to start there at the Fairmount Waterworks but as usual the there is always a massive gap in the service when you want to go anywhere, plus the real timing on the maps only updates when it feels like it most of the time, sometimes it feels like we have gone back years when it comes to this sort of thing.

The bus stop is just outside the hotel so it was just a matter of time, but you almost always seem to just miss one, anyhow, it's about 20 to 30 minutes ride on the bus that seems to take the strangest route but it was it is I suppose.

The Waterworks was built in the 1800s and has had many improvements or cost-saving adaptations done to it until it closed around 1920. The story of it is told in a theatre and just like all the other big cities across the world at that time they ended up turning their drinking water into a chemical infested open sewer (now its just plastic that screws up the system), after it finally closed due to population growth the upper reservoirs had The Philadelphia Art Museum, built on them and I suppose the actual basins form the basement of the museum now, its an intriguing place to visit plus it's free because as it's classed as a national monument. One thing that did confuse me was at the main exhibition is on a lower level there is an elevator down with 2 options, B & BR (ground floor is level 1) which turns out, are both the same level, but B which was the next button below the level BR opens the doors behind you that only take you to the toilets, if you push BR which is the very bottom button you would think it would go to another floor but no, it opens doors on the other side of the elevator. Wouldn't it be better to just call them main exhibition & restroom?

After about an hour in there it was time for a walk down the banks of the Schuylkill River, however, I really should have checked the weather as part way down it started to rain, then there was a thunderstorm so we had to take shelter, under a tree is not the best place but that's all that was on offer. It stopped fairly quick so scampered down to a bridge just in time before there was an almighty storm with thunder and lightning coupled with torrential rain, and that was where we stayed for about the next 40 minutes before it eases off for enough to wheel and walk at an accelerated pace, cross the freight train lines, take shelter in a doorway until the bus was nearly due & roll 1 block to get there as it arrived. Real-time worked this time.

We got off at whole foods to dry off and have some lunch in the cafe before walking down to the Thinker Statue then something I always seem to do is find which building Earthcam is on that stream live (the link is on the web version of the blog) and take a picture of it. Sad Ha

From there we went to Con Murphy's pub bit it was poop and pricey, as I mentioned before the bus service is crap most of the time, so ended up walking to The Locust Rondevous in light rain for a few drinks in there, but that's not that cheap either, even though it claims to be, at least it is only down a side road from the hotel and only a few minutes to get back from.

After a sit down in the hotel for a couple of hours, we headed out to the liquor store, then caught a bus about 4 stops to the Chinese takeaway then walked back to the hotel. 

Eastern State Pen

Today's photos

I couldn't seem to get going this morning and we didn't leave the hotel until gone 11 o'clock. First, we had to catch the subway about 4 stops to Fairmount, which is a lot quicker than catching the bus in this city as the traffic is a nightmare. There was a place that I found called Rybread that does gourmet sandwiches so we got a couple of turkey ones in there, it's not cheap here, but the sandwiches are tasty and it was good to get out the heat and humidity of the day for a bit.

As today is my birthday, I had only planned one main place to go and that was the Eastern State Penitentiary, this is an old prison that shut down in the '70s and was left to rot for about 30 years before they gradually started to bring it back into use as a tourist attraction. At the moment there is about half of it that is safe to walk around, but you can see into the derelict parts which always fascinates me how places decay over the years. It's a bit expensive to go in at $16 each but it's well worth the money I thought. The cells seem fairly roomy as well, but as today was a very hot day it must have been really bad to be locked up in there years ago, they even had a death row here but I think they took people elsewhere to fry them.

Next on the list and just across the road was Philly Flavours the ice cream parlour and although we had to wait for ages for them to do 2 tubs of ice cream it was nice. Now we had to hang around a bit longer than planned as the buses here have massive gaps in the service and you don't want to stand in this heat for too long with today having a real feel of 42 centigrade. I'm so glad my phone works here as if there is a massive gap in the service you can stay where you are and out of the heat.

Just down the road from the ice cream parlour is a pub called The Bishops Collar so caught the bus 3 stops to get there, we could have walked it, but we have 56 trips to get through on the weekly transit pass which isn't going to happen I think plus it was too hot. We only had one drink in here before walking over to the Fairmount Waterworks Museum but by now it was 4:30 and it closes at 5 but we will be back up this way tomorrow. 

Just round the corner from here is the front of the art museum and the steps that Rocky famously ran up in the movie, (at 50 I had to walk to the top, but I made it) there is even a bronze statue at the side you can have your picture taken with and they employ someone who will take your picture with it for free if you want.

It was time to call it a day now and low and behold we just missed a bus, that's a 20-minute wait. Arrrr.

We were back at the hotel before 6 tonight and a relief to get out of the heat and humidity, by 8 o'clock there was torrential rain just like last night, but we have to go out and get something to eat yet from Dunkies, at least that's only across the road. 

Camden

Today's photos

It's super hot here today & this is supposed to be the last of the cool days, but with a temperature of 28 overnight it doesn't feel like it & they reckon by the weekend it will be in the high 30's, grim.

We didn't have that much planned for today & didn't set off until about 11:30 and caught the number 42 bus to Penn's landing, then bought what has to be the most expensive ferry tickets ever at $9 for a round trip, considering you are only on there about 20 minutes its a lot, they could actually make the crossing in half the time but you would feel even more ripped off. The plan was to go to a cafe and have a wander along the waterfront, unfortunately, the cafe was shut and looked like it been for a while, I did check on Google Maps first but to no avail. It actually worked out for the better as the next place was Victors Pub and although it looks like an upmarket place it was very reasonably priced & the food was lovely, at $5 for a pint, it's not bad I thought & I could even watch the trams go pasted out of the window.

We then took a stroll along the waterfront to the Battleship New Jersey it was at this point I saw my first groundhog! After that it was back to the ferry for the 4:30 back across, they only run once an hour and in this heat, you needed to be in somewhere with air conditioning. As it turned out we were the only people on the lower deck as it was nice and cool in there with the doors shut. Once back on the Philly side, it was a bit of an uphill push to get the bus stop which is on an elevated section of road, but one thing I must say is that all the AC works on the buses, there's none of this crap like back home where you boil to death in the roasting heat, the windows don't open so it keeps the cold in, that's how it should be and they also have white roofs which make a difference when you keep the windows closed. 

We were back at the hotel by 6 so chilled out for a bit before catching a bus to Logan Square that has a large fountain that is lit up at night. There were plenty of people cooling off in the water, but like most places that are popular with tourist its full of crazy homeless people. It was still an enjoyable place to be and watch the families having fun.  

We hadn't been back at the hotel long when it rained really heavy for about an hour, which probably felt like a sauna outside. So depending on when you read this I could already be 50 but as we are 5 hours behind here I can stay younger for longer.  Stay younger for longer by flying west, it works.

Show me the money!

Today's photos

There have been some webby problems today with the hotel interweb which locked Janes card out of the room which screwed up the web connection.

The first order of the day was to add the week transit passes to the cards we got yesterday, as you can only top up these cards at subway stations we decided while we were down there to get the subway to train to 5th Street and independence park. The transport maps are a bit crap with the subway because even though it shows accessible stations it's so crammed together, you can't work out what station is what on the map. 

First, I thought we had come down onto the wrong station when we tagged through on the barrier as we appeared to be on the westbound platform instead of the eastbound.

What the guy didn't tell us when he gave us directions to the platform was there two elevators down to two different platforms. You actually go through to the wrong platform and then find the other lifts to the correct one I hate underground stations they are so confusing. Anyhow, it was a lot quicker doing it this way as it's only about a 5 minute ride on the subway or about 15 on the bus.

I really don't know what her problem was the other day about these cards, I do my research & when you think about people who work on these stations they rarely seem to know about how to advise the public in buying tickets because they don't pay to travel, couple that with a confusing website. They also have four morons stood around to stop people jumping the gates and riding for free.

Our main aim for today was the US Mint where you get to see coins being stamped out, it's free to go in but you do have to have to go the security and metal detectors, also you are not allowed to take photos inside so that's why there aren't any photos of the place in the album. It's really interesting to how much goes into making a coin and watching all the machinery go round from a gallery 3 floors up. We even found a Bison wearing a hoodie in the gift shop as well as a coin set.

Next, we spent a couple of hours walking around Independence park as all of today was in one area.

We then visited some of the small hidden gardens in the area which is a great way to get away from all the annoying tourists, what we did discover is there are no roses in the rose garden & no magnolias in the Mongolian garden, so it was a quick dash to the bus stop to get the #57 bus 4 stops to the pub otherwise it was a 20 minute wait. This is the first time I've had mobile internet while on vacation and it has saved us so much time, instead of waiting for a bus you can sometimes walk quicker or take an alternate route, in the past, we have always managed with hopping on free wifi to get to places. There's nothing like bringing it up on your phone that the next bus is going to a be a 30-minute wait, that's another drink in the pub.

Anyhow, the first drink in the pub with a Coke was $6 then there was a free refill for the Coke without getting up, second drink for me at 7% was $3 because it was a happy hour & it would be rude not to have one more, hopefully this would make the 2 buses back to the hotel slightly more bearable.

Rail & Retail

Toady photos

For some reason, neither of us woke up to late, but I suppose that's only to be expected on the second day when things start to catch up with you.

Breakfast was late at around 11:45 in Dunkies across the road from City Hall, which isn't the best of places to be, there's a lot of aggressive beggars around here and we got followed in the shop by one, most shops would have kicked them straight out but not here. There are a lot of crazy people in this city which goes some way to explain the murder rate & the number of shootings over the last few days, which stands at 3 dead & 14 other people shot since we got here 3 days ago.

Something we tried to do the other day was to buy a Septa key card that you then load with cash or add passes so you don't have to mess about with coins on local transport, but wasn't able to do this due to a very unhelpful woman who worked on the station that kept saying that the only ones on there were for regional rail train, which is a load of crap because its the same card for everything the only difference is on regional rail you tag in and out with the card as it's distance based travel and not flat fare pricing like in the City. Even though you have to pay $4.95 for the card, then it only costs $2 per ride with it as opposed to $2.50 so it paid for half of itself in one day.

A short ride on the #4bus took us to the Rail Park, which has just had the first section completed, even though it's only a short section, there's a lot of work gone into turning what was an old disused railway on an elevated section into a linear park, it's a really peaceful place to be and even has some swing benches made out of the old steel work. There are 2 other sections that have yet to be started & involve it going into a cutting & a tunnel, given that it has taken this long to get this far with only a short section I wouldn't hold my water for the next part.

It was a bit too warm to hang around on here long but not very far away is Reading Terminal Market, this place is an indoor food court in what I believe was an old railway station. There's all sorts of food on sale here, but was a bit on the busy side so we ended up just having a couple of beers at the bar which was a bit crowded as they seem to really into the Wimbledon tennis final! I thought it would have been expensive, but only came to $12 for 2 beers & 2 cokes but I don't think they charge for soda in most decent dive bars (if that's a thing?) if you order beer with a soft drink, it varied from place to place along with how much pay per drink at what time of the day. The system here was if you sit at the bar they put your seat location into the till and you pay when you leave. 

Things went a bit sideways now when we left, the plan was to catch a couple of buses to the Washington Street Pier, it wasn't too long to wait for the first one, but just missed the second then there was going to be a 40-minute wait. Aaaarrrhhh. There's nowhere to sit and not much shade, but looking at the map it was about a 20-minute walk, so it's time to walk.

It was nice to stroll along the lower part of the Delaware Riverwalk, which brought us out at Walmart, which was a relief to get into and out of the heat.

They even have a Macdonalds in here so got something to eat, then caught another bus from the parking lot to a place called the Singing Fountain. This area has plenty of trendy bars and we went into a one called The Pub on Passyunk. Strange name & a bit of a dive or perhaps it was urban trendy I'm really not sure.

We only stayed for one drink & the bus stop was literally right outside the pub so caught the #45 back to Jimmy Johns for a sub. We got back to the hotel later than planned but this was mainly due to the buses being crap.

Delaware River Walk

Today's photos

Jane went out to get some breakfast while I was getting up.  It was really hot already, 23 degrees by 8 o'clock this morning. By this afternoon it was going to be 10 degrees warmer with a real feel of 35 at 80% humidity, but that will drop later, so I think this is going to be a day strolling along the Delaware River they have some entertainment and bars down there this afternoon.

I love my Dunkies so that's where the day started with a double sausage & egg bagel, then caught the number 48 bus for the 15 minutes ride to the east side of Center City. I had found this shop by pure chance on Google Maps called Souvenir that sells more unique items to the visiting tourists. Unfortunately, it didn't open until midday so we had a wander around, this area has mostly independent traders with a wide variety of shops and sits just on the edge of Independence Park, here we found a wonderful little park with a fountain before heading to Betsy Ross House then back to Souvenir.

Next on our list was Elfreth's Alley, which has some of the oldest architecture in the city in the way of houses, this is the sort of place you see on jigsaws. Just round the corner from here is the Fireman's Hall Museum that charts the history of the fire service in the city, there is also a good display of 9-11 from the fire service point of view, some of the photos I had never seen before. 

A 10 minute walk from here is Race Street Pier, which has been turned into a park that pokes out into the Delaware River & a great place to chill out, next to this is Cherry Street Pier, which only opened earlier this year & is more of an semi indoor food and craft market, although it's given a lot of hype, neither of us was that impressed with it, considering it has been sitting empty for years & had so much money spent on it to get it to reopen it has basic access, even the floor isn't level in most parts and they had cables running across the floor at one point! We didn't stay there for long & continued along the river to Penn's Landing, passing through part of here you have to go through a bag search as they seem to have a lot of entertainment on today, but most people are not going in and just using the waterfront trail which makes most of it is a pointless exercise, it would be better if you put up a fence to control access to the top field where it is all happening and not piss off lots of people and waste everyone's time. 

Just along from here is Spruce Street Harbor, which is more pop-up bars and food stalls, that's sold from converted shipping containers, but we didn't bother having anything as it seems like a license to print money on the most part. 

After winding our way through people, climbing a flight of steps to cross the freeway we came to the South Street Diner & after climbing some more steps to get in we had a late lunch. The food here was really nice and at a reasonable price, almost next door is Paddy Whacks Irish Bar so dropped in there for a couple of beers. It was a relief to get out of the heat for a while and at $6 a pint that's 7% you can't complain. I think we spent about 90 minutes in there before taking a short walk to the bus stop and a 10-minute ride to the Town Market Store to stock up on beer then round to Big Gay Ice cream parlour who sell some fantastic ice creams. 

And that is pretty much it for the day, with just a short walk back to the hotel for about 6:30. 

Flight & arrival

Today's photos

It turns out that the seating plan online was wrong, although we have the same sort of seats they are not by the exit or bulkhead, perhaps they do this just to confuse people.

We eventually took off about an hour late, at least we are on the way and should be less than an hour late getting in, hopefully. The flight is completely full so there isn't any chance of swapping seats get a bit nearer to Jane and you can't even cross to the next aisle on this plane so I can't even go over for a chat, but there seems to be plenty of legroom at least even with the seat back in front of me.

I'm sure lunch will be round soon, but I just want a tin of beer.

1 hour in and we are at 34,000 feet doing 555 mph with 3300 miles to go or in plain English (no pun intended) about 6 hours 45 minutes. One thing I did notice is the air pressure reading on my smart watch that was 1012 hPa on the ground & has now dropped to 797 hPa but nobody has popped yet so it can't be a bad sign. The WiFi doesn't work on here or least my phone doesn't want to connect, but we have our own entertainment when I can get over to where Jane is and switch it on then we can both stream video from it to our phones or tablet. 

Airlines never cease to amaze me on how you can make lunch so crap, it's that bad I've chosen to leave it & I'm not a picky eater so I will just stick with the beer. I think we have only ever been on one flight where the food was edible and that was with Delta but by far the worst was Virgin Atlantic to San Francisco, on an 11-hour flight that turns into a 14-hour flight you have little option but to eat the crap. 

At 3 hours in everyone is fed up & wandering about, Jane looks like she watching something interesting & I'm playing with my phone & tablet, I have managed to produce a short video about 3 minutes long completely off-line. 

1 hour & 30 minutes to go and this is when I start to feel like I've had a stroke, the pizza slices are a bit on the spicy side, but I'm starving so scoffed that and washed it down with a beer.

At the moment it looks like we will be 30 minutes late getting in which will put us at 2 p.m. local time. 

We seem to be making a rapid descent as my ears just popped twice & the air pressure on the watch is zooming up.

We were only 30 minutes late getting in as predicted & there was somebody to help push the wheelchair to the priority desk at immigration, then to baggage claim, she even took us out to the train station to get the tickets. 

From there it was a 30-minute ride to Suburban Station. 

The temperature here is 32c at the moment and really humid so it was a sticky walk to the hotel about 15 minutes from the station, but when we saw the room it was worth it, we have never had a sofa in a hotel room before, we also have a safe, a fridge, free in-room Wi-Fi (normally a charge here unless you use the lobby Wi-Fi)  & a massive TV and if that wasn't enough, I can use my mobile as if I'm at home with no extra charges, it really does save so much time when you can use Google Maps to plan your public transport plus it's a really nice place.

After having a sit in the hotel for a bit it was time to head back out into the heat of the late afternoon to get something to eat from Jimmy John's, they do amazing subs, then we got some drink, snacks and the all-important beer. We arrived back at the hotel at 8 pm which is about 1 o'clock on Saturday morning back in the UK. We're both a bit knackered now so it's time to chill out in front of the TV for the rest of the evening. 

I feel old

Given the fact that I will be 50 in a few days, I think I'm getting too old to work all day before we travel then have only 4 hours sleep.

The taxi was booked for 04.20 which means I was up at 3 am although Jane had already got up to do the last minute checks beforehand, there's very little chance of getting any sleep now until about 11 pm tonight, but with the 5 hour time difference that's going to be 4am on Tuesday when we get to bed again.

This is the first time that we have gone on vacation on a weekday so left a bit earlier than normal just in case there it was a problem with the traffic because I hate having to rush. Our flight doesn't leave until 10.15 so that means with the 3 hours you need to be there to check-in, we had plenty of time, it's always best to get the bag checked in and past through security then there is time to do other things like eating.

The flight number is AA729 but there's no point in posting a link here to it, but a quick Google search will show what's happening.

Heathrow

The traffic was ok all the way and we arrived at 5:50. We only have one bag to check-in this time as we are travelling lighter every time we go so dumped that at the special assistance which always seems to be occupied by somebody who doesn't need it. It turns out that the travel agent told us lies and we ended having to pay £45 to check the bag because of the tickets we had, even though we asked them more than once, all airlines now charge for bags unless you buy a more expensive seat which would have cost us more in the end, I think, the only other option is to take 2 carry-on bags and 2 small rucksacks but this then makes it difficult to walk the 2 miles to the departure gate with the wheelchair. 

Anyhow, at least getting through security went smoothly and quickly so after having a sandwich, it's time for the pub, but at the price, I won't be having many. 

One thing Jane did notice is that my countdown clock had broke on the blog so as we have plenty of time to kill I have fixed it or should I say I built another one on the website because I couldn't figure out what had broken.

So now it's time for breakfast beer in the pub whilst we wait, the plane is apparently 25 minutes delayed now and as of 08:30 there is no gate displayed yet which should happen around 9 am. We haven't got seats together, but that's not a problem for us plus, Jane has an aisle seat by the bulkhead and I have a window by the emergency exit, you would pay good money for these, normally people pay extra for these seats as they easy to get in and out of plus you get a ton of leg room.
So now it's time to load up and wait to go, still 20 minutes late or so.

Days to lift off

Time since lift off on AA729Countup

If you view this blog on a mobile or tablet below 8 inches then you're might get a more compact view on the screen for obvious reasons but you should see the Home, or About button below the header picture (it varies) tap on this to open the drop down menu which brings up the other pages you can tap on that open video, website and photo albums although I will post a quick link at the top of each day's post to the daily photo album.

The graphics for the album along with the coding to open in a separate tab takes me a little time longer to create so that may a bit behind the main posts. You can also scroll to the bottom & tap on web view to get all the gadget's down the right side, but this will be a lot smaller on mobile.