Sunrise on a run

Sunrise on a run

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Philadelphia: Thursday 28th July

Thursday morning and another buffet breakfast - a good selection, I've been in US hotels in the past where their idea of breakfast was doughnuts and coffee.

The drawback of only spending a few days in one place where there is so much to see is trying to decide what to go for. We took advantage of our location and went to the Academy of Natural Sciences: the lure of the Dinosaurs was what clinched it for us. A particular highlight was watching people working on the Dinosaur bones from Argentina: an entirely new Dinosaur, not yet named and apparently very large. He will be going back to Argentina but it will be interesting to read more about him.




Another highlight were the summer interns, all school kids desperate to impart their knowledge of the dinosaurs. It only seemed fair to stop and listen.

Next stop was the Butterflies, a particular favourite of mine and I spent quite a bit of time trying to get photos of a spectactular blue one in flight. The pictures weren't quite so spectacular, so I thought I'd share a shot of this giant.




There is a great area upstairs for children: lots to touch and explore. My favourite was looking at the slides under a microscope, especially the ant head. Mr S' favourite was the moose antlers.




After a final visit to the dinosaur area, this time to the big dig, it was lunchtime. We had a voucher (due to the hotel's mess up with our room on the first night) to TGIs. It was ok but not the best TGI I've ever been to. The wedge salad really was just a big wedge of lettuce and I'd forgotten how much dressing they drown it in (note to self: ask for it on the side).

After lunch, we decided to go for a bus tour. The highly detailed tour was probably going to be lost on the girls so we opted for the Philly Phlash and our own commentary, including an account of the store (Wholefoods) where we bought Boo's first foods!

We headed up past the Rodin Museum, the Museum of Art, the Zoo and the Please Touch Museum. It was a shame we didn't make it here as it had moved to a much bigger location and looked quite fab.

We couldn't keep away from Reading Terminal Market so we headed back to the candy store for more Lego sweeties. Once we'd stocked up on gifts, we picked up the remains of our picnic and headed back to Rittenhouse Square for one last visit. Again the girls had a fantastic time, they seemed to spend much of it picked up dried leaves and pretending they were going to the Antartic.

After that it was time to say our farewells and pack up the hotel room in readiness for our long trip to Cape Cod.


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