USA Sep 2011 – Day 6

Today was my last day in NYC as I had to fly to Philadelphia. I had no idea you could catch a train there from NYC which takes about a bit over an hour until my friend told me. They were shocked I was actually flying there as I flew down to see them.

I found it very difficult to get to La Guardia airport as I didn’t read the map properly or that there are no trains that go directly there. I think you can get a train and then get a bus which I tried to do and failed.

After waiting around for a bus I gave up and hailed down a taxi instead which was fast and cheerful. Actually no one said anything to each other.

I flew on a small plane to Philadelphia which flies at a lower altitude and slower than the bigger planes. There were only about 20 people on there and I assume the rest were on a train or a bus.

I took a taxi to the hotel as I didn’t really want to mess about catching trains and el trains and then getting lost. The taxi ended up being about $35 including tip for what appeared to be a very short trip! I didn’t know what to expect in Philadelphia and I did not expect it to be so humid!

I stayed right in the heart of Philli and everything was a stones throw away which was nice. I was really looking forward to the Reading Terminal Market which was a food mecca for the locals and tourists alike but that was tomorrows outing.

Before meeting my friend for dinner I was just wandering around to see if there was anything interesting to see. The first thing I did see was the North Face store. For the next hour I was trying things on and buying up the place. The clothes were so cheap compared to London as its hugely marked up.

For dinner we went to a spanish tapas restaurant. As it was restaurant month many restaurants had special menus on and at discounted prices so my friend opted to choose this particular place. The food was amazing trying different types of tapas meant we could choose almost everything off the menu. It was a very popular place and was packed.

We didn’t do anything after dinner as my friend had class the next day. The university of Pennsylvania sits in Philadelphia and in some ways almost integrates into it. Downtown is only divided by a bridge.

Smiles