Philadelphia - Sept 2022

Walking around and the Rodin Museum -- Sept 23, 2022

My grocery store bagel toasted with cream cheese was very good. We explored more of the Independence Hall area.

Benjamin Franklin and wife's gravestone, and some good information about his life.

We went through Chinatown and to Reading Terminal Market for a pork sandwich for lunch. Travis liked it; I was not a big fan -- Philly cheesesteak was much better. Also, we got some chocolates from the candy stand at the Market -- dark chocolate peanut butter cups, dark chocolate coconut, and dark chocolate covered cashews. They were delicious; the peanut butter cups were the best.

We headed toward the art museum area through Logan's square and found the Amor version of the Love sign.

Rodin Museum. The Thinker and then the Gates of Hell.

Sculpture of Balzac and the seal that looks the sculpture below of the him as well.

Philadelphia Museum of Art. We did not visit but looked at the outside with the stairs that Rocky exercised/training on. Before, we visited the Rocky statue; Travis managed to get a picture without anyone in it. There were lots of people by the Rocky statue talking/bothering to tourists, offering to take a picture (for tips), and selling shirts. It was too high pressure for me. The stairs were a more pleasant experience.

Behind the Museum we found the waterfront and Schuylkill River where the dam was.

A bridge when going down to the waterfront. Here we found a wedding party prepping for the wedding.

Matthias Baldwin Park was noted to have good city views. This was near our hotel, so we went on the way back.

Back at the hotel, we got dressed for dinner. We had reservations for Philly restaurant week with fixed price lunches and dinners. We picked Gran Caffe L’Aquila; it was a four course dinner for $40 each. We ordered:

Course 1:

SUD ITALIA
Tasting of Capra (Campania), Caciocavallo (Molise), & Pecorino Romano (Lazio) with fig marmalade, cherry blossom honey, grapes, crostini

SALUMI VERTICALE

Tasting of Prosciutto di Parma, Mortadella Bologna, & Bresaola with a wedge of

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Course 2:

ARANCINI
Sicilian rice ball, veal & pork ragu, peas, fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce -- this one was my fav though I ordered the other one

CINGHIALE

Wild boar & long hot pepper meatballs, tomato sugo

Course 3:

PESCATRICE PUTTANESCA
Monkfish, tomato, caper, olives, anchovy, served with chitarra pasta

PAPARDELLE AL RAGU AQUILANO

Wide ribbon pasta, slow cooked pork, lamb, chicken & veal ragu

I wanted this from the online menu but it was gone/off the menu when we arrived:

ARROSTICINI BIASINI

Lamb and bacon skewers served with a gastronomic long hot pepper gelato

Course 4:

GRAN PANNA COTTA
Creamy chilled baked cream infused with espresso, Italian chocolate & a hint of sambuca.

GELATO (V*)

Two scoops of any flavor of Artisanal gelato or sorbetto produced by International

Gelato Champion Stefano Biasini -- I got the 70% dark chocolate gelato, and it was very good.

Sicilian rice ball:

Wide ribbon pasta, slow cooked pork, lamb, chicken & veal ragu:

Gran Panna Cotta and gelato:

We stayed at Sonder Sixteen Hundred at 1600 Callowhill St. I had not heard of Sonders before, but they have locations in some cities around the world; it seems like they are newer and expanding. This was the most the afford place to stay in Philly and was a great location. The hotel prices made it look like Philly thought it was NYC.

Our was in an apartment complex, where Sonder rented some of the rooms to use as a hotel to rent out. It sounds like some locations have entry codes that you are given at check in time. Our location had someone at the desk. Since we had a late flight that was even later and app had early check-in time requests and later to 6pm (4pm being the normal check-in time), I called to ask if anyone would be available for our late flight. She checked our location and made a note in our reservation. Arriving a little after 9pm, we did not have any problem getting checked in.

We were given a fob key for elevator, room, gym, and access from the outside door. The Sonder app had a place to request housekeeping or anything else needed. I requested shampoo (just got two conditioners and no shampoo) and soap since a little bar was only lasting about a night. It was a live chat, but I expected to leave a message. I started the message before we were heading out to explore, so I missed the replies/did it wrong. So, they texted that they would bring them by. Then they texted when they were closed. We were watching a movie and listening for the door. When we heard nothing, I checked the door; it was on the door handle.

This is the studio; they had one and two bedroom rooms too for families. In front of the bed was a TV that used Chromecast over their wifi and a closet with stacked washer/dryer inside. The second picture is from the bed (L shaped room) -- a kitchen with supplies, big walk in closet where we kept our luggage, and bathroom.

We were on the second floor out of 7, so not the best view, but we could still see some good buildings and had big windows. It was also facing an alley, so it was nice and quiet.