At the beginning of December my friend Sydnee had to go to Philly for a few days and invited me to tag along. In a last minute whirlwind I decided to go because when will I have the chance to do that again?
We spent too many hours on a train playing cards and watching Sahara (one of the greatest movies of our time) and finally got to the hotel in the middle of the night.
The next morning we woke late and went to breakfast at Penrose Diner in South Philly (it was the only food joint around). And weirdly small town-esque. Everybody knew everybody else and they were calling across the diner to each other. We felt like outsiders. I had a giant and absolutely delicious Cajun grilled chicken sandwich.
We public transportation-ed ourselves into the middle of the city where we saw a few of God Bless America's priceless treasures. We did not steal the Declaration of Independence, but that is only because the current threat level was so low that it just would have been embarrassing.
These are the only picture I have of our historical adventures.
We wandered around for a bit longer and went to a few other historical sites. Sydnee then informed me that there is a place called "Jeweler's Row" so of course we had to go. It is a small street where each shop is a fine jewelry store. We went in a couple of them and then decided to actually try on a couple rings. We picked out settings that we liked and then the kind sales associate went to get real diamonds to put into the settings. We died inside and snapped a quick pic.
I pointed to one ring without a center stone and asked if I could try it on. The sales associate, we'll call him Bobby, told me I had good taste and handed me the ring. I glanced at the price- $25,000. It didn't even have a center stone! In what world is that a thing?! It was, of course, beautiful and I was done looking around. Then Syd started trying on various setttings and another setting caught my eye. I looked at it several times but didn't think much of it. Bobby saw me eye it and pulled it out of the case. I tried it on and that was the end.
I found the one, guys. This is not a drill. If I get married I must have this ring. And it costs waaaaaay less than $25,000. I almost bought it right then and there.
After our diamond adventures we public transportation-ed ourselves back to South Philly where we went to Penrose again. And again, delicious. We ate phillys. In Philly. I don't think I need to explain that one.
On Saturday Syd went about her Philly business and I did...homework!!
After Syd was finished with her obligations we met up and went to Penrose Diner where I had a yummy burger. Sensing a theme yet?
And then we went home and watch a very scary movie that was almost too intense. We kept changing the channel to anything else only to go back and watch it again.
At some point in our evening we decided it would be a fun and great idea to stay up all night long. So somewhere around 2am we were hungry and went back to, where else, Penrose Diner! And- this is the weird part- it was JUST AS BUSY as it had been during the day! This place had been packed every single time we went there and 2am was no different. People still called out to each other. And not like annoying teenagers. These were full grown adults with babysitters at home. We ordered soups (french onion and corn chowder), played cards, and talked until 4. We finally went back to our hotel room and slept for a couple hours until I went back to NYC and she went home to Canada.
And then we never saw each other again until the end of January. It was tragic.
I know this post looks like it is about a fun adventure between two friends, but it is more than that. It is also a shameless plug for Penrose Diner. Seriously. Go. I'll meet you there in 20.
