Saturday, February 5, 2011

we went to Philly

and this is how we both felt.
honestly.
Ben was in NYC checking out a residency program and then traveling to Philly to check out another one (our rank list is due soon so he was taking some second looks at a few programs).
I was super excited to check out Philadelphia since I had never been there.
Charlotte and I flew to Philly, rented a car, and had a full day planned of historical tourism before we were to pick up Ben at the train station. I literally had a travel book highlighted with a list of things to hit up for our one day there.

What happened the night before we get there?
A foot of blasted snow.
Philadelphia doesn't know how to handle snow of this magnitude. I'm used to Chicago having the streets plowed before you leave for work in the
morning or else a politician is kicked out of office.

So, we get there. Park. Walk to what I thought was the right area to find out we're 12 blocks away. So we walk. Well, I walk, push Charlotte through a foot of snow in a stroller, carry her over mounds of snow that I can't push through, past a drunk homeless man that kicked at us to get out of his way, right to the visitor's center. Only to find out that they're closed. For the entire day. As well as every single historical site that was highlighted in my wee book.

I cried. No joke.

There was one last place I could think of to visit. The visitor's center said that a tavern (3 blocks away) where Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson ate dinner every night should still be open. I wiped off my face and made the trek. On the way I saw the liberty bell through a window and met a cop that told me he could totally tell I was from Chicago because of my accent...? What?! The tavern ended up being closed too. A few choice words may have escaped my lips at this point. It was 2 o'clock. Ben's train wasn't coming until 8 and our hotel was an hour away. We had nothing to do and nowhere to go.

To make a long story short (I know... too late for that...), Charlotte and I went to Border's Books (one of the few places open) and hung out in the children's section, Ben switched trains and got in at 4:30 instead, and we finally headed to the hotel. Hallelujah.
she was such a good sport
finally happy reading books in a warm room

3 comments:

Emily Kate said...

Oh my gosh, what a disaster! And what a bummer because I thought Philly was totally cool. So sorry this happened.

Jacob will be so jealous if you guys go to NYC for residency. He wants to go back so bad. I'm on the fence about it. We're just starting to narrow down our choices. I'd love to hear how your process has been so far. Has Ben done any away rotations? He wants to do OB right?

Coleman Family said...

Wow, that was quite an adventure! And I was waiting for someone else to tell you about your new accent... ;) At least good ol' Borders was open!

Becky said...

What a day...I could picture everything you went through...peeking through the window at the liberty bell...or the drunken man...I would have cried too! Probably felt like home walking into Borders Books.
Remind me to tell you of my massage on my birthday last year...three words will describe it...Suave, cigarettes, old.