Spunky South Street Philadelphia

The area known as South Street in Philadelphia is approximately 10 blocks long and has a fun bohemian flair!  With over 300 shops and 60 restaurants, it’s a great place to people watch, wander into eclectic shops, have a famous Philly Cheesesteak, or listen to music!  I had read when I returned home, that the area has been known for being a bit seedy or perhaps even dangerous…but I didn’t sense that and felt perfectly safe as a solo female traveler!

As I passed this colorful bar, I knew I had to have a photo…

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Independence Hall, Graveyards and Art in Philadelphia

My second day in Philadelphia began with an absolutely delicious egg, bacon and cheese biscuit sandwich at the Metropolitan Bakery near Rittenhouse Square.  The biscuit was so flaky and yummy!

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Philadelphia Beauty

Philadelphia has so much natural beauty!  Not only its architecture, but all of the small Squares, Parks and Gardens.  This is one of the small parks…

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Elfreth’s Alley, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

There’s a magical street in Philadelphia called Elfreth’s Alley that has colorful and quaint townhomes dating back to 1736.  It’s a short street, but full of charm and history and is our nation’s oldest residential street!

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Lovin’ Philly

With just two days to explore Philadelphia by foot, I saw some beautiful architecture, flowers and scenery.  I don’t remember the name of this park, but it is beautiful!

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What to See in Philadelphia

There is so much to see and do in Philadelphia!  I started walking towards the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Boathouse Row.  This domino sculpture is pretty cool!  I like it sometimes when there is someone in my photo, because they become an actor…like in this photo…it’s almost seems this lady was posing for me!

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City Life in Philadelphia

I arrived in Philadelphia Monday evening to the home of my lovely Couchsurfing hostess…Claire.  She was still at work, so I had detailed instructions on where to find the keys to her beautiful City apartment that is located near Rittenhouse Square.  All of the lights were on when I arrived to welcome me.

This is her living room.  I love window seats!  She is a voracious reader and just outside of this photo on the left is another built-in bookcase with books!

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Philadelphia and New York City…Here I Come!

I can’t believe I’m leaving in 10 days for Philadelphia (2 days/3 nights) and New York City (almost 4 days/4 nights) on a jet plane!!  Frontier Airlines had a special for $32 round trip flying out of Columbus, Ohio.  I’ll have to drive from Cincinnati, but from my house it’s only about an hour and 40 minutes.  Parking at the airport is only $4 a day!  I’ve been around the world…but never to these two Cities.  I’ll be Couchsurfing with a lady in each City and they’re really cool!  They’re both about 40 years old, beautiful, and fun!

I’m in the process of researching.  I’ll fly into Trenton, NJ which is about 40 minutes from Philly and a little over an hour from NYC by train.  I’ll have to pack in a lot in a short period of time (especially for NYC)…but I’m thinking for Philadelphia of doing a 3 mile self-guided walking tour called The Constitutional Walking Tour and it includes 33 sites such as The National Constitution Center – Liberty Bell Museum and 13 other non-constitutional sites.  I’d also like to make it to the Museum of Art – Longwood Gardens – Boathouse Row – Magic Gardens – South Street.

And for New York City–possibly the free Staten Island Ferry (if it’s not too cold) – from Battery Park you can take the free Downtown Connection bus to South Street Seaport – walk across Brooklyn Bridge – Ground Zero – Chinatown – Little Italy – Washington Square Park – Greenwich Village – Highline – Chelsea Market – Midtown to include — Times Square (a 1.5 mile walk along 42nd street to see architecture such as The Candler Bldg., W. R. Grace Bldg. – New York Public Library, Grand Central Station, and the Chrysler Building) – Rockefeller Center – Radio City Music Hall – Museum of Modern Art – St. Patrick’s Cathedral – Central Park – Brooklyn (possibly the Apollo Theater and Lennox Lounge in Harlem and/or some sites in Queens).

I’m not planning on going up to the top of the Empire State Building because I’ve read that it’s less crowded to go up the Rockefeller Bldg. and that way you have a view of the Empire State Bldg.  I won’t be able to go in the Statue of Liberty due to repairs.

I thought about renting a bicycle in NYC.

If anyone has any “must see or dos” please let me know.  Of course, the ladies I’m staying with are locals and will be able to give me lots of good information.

One of the ladies does pole dancing in a studio to keep in shape and wants me to join her…I’ll be so busy, you’ll have to wait until I return for a recap!

Oh…the people I’ll meet, the places I’ll go, and the things I’ll do!

Free Music through Freegal

Recently I discovered Freegal Music, an online site offering free music through your library.  I love anything free!  I’ve been downloading free book rentals from the library to my Kindle for a while.  Anyway, you just log into your library online with your card number and pin…and if your particular library offers the service, it will be listed on their website.  Once you’re in the site and you’ve clicked on a song to download, it will go directly to your iTunes account.  My library allows three downloads per week and the week starts over on Monday.  So…tomorrow I get three more.  They don’t offer all of the songs I’d like yet…for example…Bruno Mars “When I was your Man”; Ed Sheeran “The A Team”, The Civil Wars “Billie Jean”, or Red Hot Chili Peppers “Scar Tissue”.  They add songs frequently, so I’ll check back soon on those.

Today I downloaded Sara Bareilles “Love Song”, Ella James “At Last”, and Wild Belle “Keep You”.  I have over 3360 songs so far on my iTunes.  My iPod is almost full, so eventually I’d like to purchase one that has a larger capacity.

I like most genres of music except rap and some country.  I lean towards soft rock, R&B, some pop, etc.  I love Adele, but who doesn’t?  I went out dancing Friday night with girlfriends and had a great time!  It’s great exercise also!

I can’t remember if I posted this photo recently, but I think it’s the only one of me dancing.  I was in Lisbon, Portugal

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If you can dance to accordion music, you can dance to anything!

 

A Word A Week Challenge – Hats

As you can easily surmise from looking at these photos…I love hats!  This is the challenge at A Word in Your Ear!  I didn’t really feel comfortable wearing hats when I was younger.  I was a bit shy and felt it brought more attention to myself.  Being almost 6 foot tall demanded enough attention as it was.  As I’ve aged and become more comfortable in my skin…I realize hats are fun and they protect your face from the sun!

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Travel Theme: Roads

There are so many types of roads!  Flat..hilly..curvy..straight..paved..dirt..rocky..steep!  Where’s My Backpack’s Travel Theme this week is….Roads!

The first three road photos were all taken in Namibia, Africa.  The terrain, at times, seemed alien and made for some great photographs!

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Travel Theme: Bridges

Where’s My Backpack has a Weekly Travel Theme and this week it’s Bridges!  I love bridges!  They connect you to new experiences, people, places and fun!

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This bridge at Camp Kern near Cincinnati, Ohio was fun to walk on and took us to the beginning spot for zip lining through the beautiful Autumn trees!  It was extra special for me because it was just my son and I…that’s him walking up the bridge. Continue reading

My Life Lately

I thought I’d give you a more personal look at my life lately!  I joined a new Meetup.com group a few weeks ago that focuses on cooking.  Seeing that I’ve made over 160 new recipes from Pinterest this past year, it’s quite appropriate.  I volunteered to host the first gathering, which was held at our house Saturday evening.  The theme was Mexican and there were 12 of us.  Because I was the hostess…I didn’t need to cook.  Everyone else brought the food.  It was still quite a bit of work to make sure the house was clean, to assist the night of, and to clean again afterwards; but I enjoyed the company and the food was delish!

I joined another Meetup group for creative people and attended the first meetup the other night.  There were about 9 of us…so we went around the room and shared a little about ourselves and I’m signed up for the next event, an art exhibit for one of the members!

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Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Red

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is Red, White or Red & White.  This photo was taken at Sanibel Island, Florida right before Christmas…hence the Poinsettias.

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Travel Theme: Mountains

Where’s My Backpack’s Travel Theme this week is Mountains.  I love Mountains!  I love to hike on them, look at them, and photograph them!  I posted so many photos of  Mountains recently with my “Hiking” series…I had to search through my thousands of photos for some I haven’t posted–or at least not recently.

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