philly day 1
Was pretty much on my own today. Got dropped off at the Wawa store (sort of like a little supermarket, like those Tesco express of the co-ops you get) It was so cool, its got like a little take away in it, so you can get coffee, donuts and bread rolls (known here as hoagies)
Anyway, went back to the house and watched tv for a while whilst waiting for my hair to dry. Watched the Blue Collar Show which I love. Its basically a stand up/sketch show that takes the piss out of rednecks. Genius! Got the train into Center City just before lunch. Philly trains are weird. For starters, if you get on the train at the airport or a main station, like in the centre then you have a platform which is the same height as our platforms. But if you get on somewhere like Narberth, then you are track level and have to go up the steps. Theres a conductor on every carriage. The trains are quite backwards, the man just punches several holes in the ticket to get the date, price and places of travel, whereas in the UK they'd have a machine for that.
Anyway, got off the train at Market East, which was lucky because there is The Gallery above it, which is a shopping mall. Walked around there for a bit. I love the food courts at this place, you wander round, checking out the different food places and people give you samples of the food to try! I settled for pizza.
Wandered around the shops for a bit, but its quite difficult knowing which ones are good shops and which ones are tacky. Got bored of the shops and went outside to head down to Independence Park. Sat in the park for a while, just reading my magazine and watching the people take photos of each other under the 'Barry' statue. Then I headed down to the river. Saw the sculpture park... it should be sued under the trades description act, it only has two sculptures so is rather pathetic. Then I headed back to go home.
Later on we went to McSheas for some food. Since Greg works there and it is obviously their local, they know all the staff. They are all very friendly and quite funny. The drinking culture is different in America. In the bar on Friday night, it was pretty packed but there were no lairy, drunken people in sight. They are more relaxed and theres a better, friendly atmosphere. The owner bought us all a drink :D They also have a beer called 'Blithering Idiot'
Back home and to bed, rather knackered.
Anyway, went back to the house and watched tv for a while whilst waiting for my hair to dry. Watched the Blue Collar Show which I love. Its basically a stand up/sketch show that takes the piss out of rednecks. Genius! Got the train into Center City just before lunch. Philly trains are weird. For starters, if you get on the train at the airport or a main station, like in the centre then you have a platform which is the same height as our platforms. But if you get on somewhere like Narberth, then you are track level and have to go up the steps. Theres a conductor on every carriage. The trains are quite backwards, the man just punches several holes in the ticket to get the date, price and places of travel, whereas in the UK they'd have a machine for that.
Anyway, got off the train at Market East, which was lucky because there is The Gallery above it, which is a shopping mall. Walked around there for a bit. I love the food courts at this place, you wander round, checking out the different food places and people give you samples of the food to try! I settled for pizza.
Wandered around the shops for a bit, but its quite difficult knowing which ones are good shops and which ones are tacky. Got bored of the shops and went outside to head down to Independence Park. Sat in the park for a while, just reading my magazine and watching the people take photos of each other under the 'Barry' statue. Then I headed down to the river. Saw the sculpture park... it should be sued under the trades description act, it only has two sculptures so is rather pathetic. Then I headed back to go home.
Later on we went to McSheas for some food. Since Greg works there and it is obviously their local, they know all the staff. They are all very friendly and quite funny. The drinking culture is different in America. In the bar on Friday night, it was pretty packed but there were no lairy, drunken people in sight. They are more relaxed and theres a better, friendly atmosphere. The owner bought us all a drink :D They also have a beer called 'Blithering Idiot'
Back home and to bed, rather knackered.