Like I said, I did things other than run in Philly. We had a whirlwind weekend, but we managed to cram a ton of stuff [read: beer and food] into a 24-hour-ish trip.
Barbara and Gulliver came along for the ride, but we parted ways once we arrived. Daniel’s parents babysat the pups for the night. [Thanks again, D + A! Hope you had fun with these crazies.]
And then the eating commenced. First up: Manakeesh, a Lebanese cafe in West Philly. (Yes, I was assured by our host that we did indeed pass by the playground where the Fresh Prince spent most of his days.)
Apparently, manakeesh means Lebanese flatbread sandwich and also heaven. We ordered a few to split. I was a big fan of the Veggie.
This folded one is the Za’tar Labneh, also delicious.
Spinach and cheese.
And, of course, hummus. This place was hell of cheap, too — 5 gigantic flatbread pizzas and hummus to share between 5 people for 30 bucks. You cannot go wrong with that.
After lunch, we made our way to the Rodin Museum, where we looked at a whole lot of sculpture.
This work accurately depicts the way we felt walking around in 100+ degree heat.
Parched. I’m parched. Give me water.
Rodin was really into hands.
His own hands, God’s hands holding him, hands reaching up from the grave, the devil’s hands holding a woman. That sort of thing.
Hands with a secret.
Hands with a reflection of me. I am not a good photographer, but gosh I try.
We left the museum and walked around the city, looking at more sculpture.
We made our way to Monk’s, the bar that I think is Daniel’s favorite thing about Philly.
It’s up there on my favorites list as well. So. Many. Beers.
I had the Dogfish Head Theobroma (made with cocoa nibs) and Stoudt’s Fat Dog Stout. Both beyond excellent.
Our little group, sans me: Chuck, our host and knowledgeable tour guide; Jayme, our up-for-anything traveling companion; and Daniel.
We set off walking again and after a few hours found ourselves in search of food.
Ethiopian food, to be exact. I had never had it before, so we made it our goal to find me some representative Ethiopian.
We wound up at Era, an unassuming restaurant with strange decor and really tasty food.
Oh, and walls covered in cool murals.
We started with beers, of course. My choice of the Yards Brawler was a really, really good one.
And then we ordered a combo platter with mostly vegetarian options.
I am now obsessed with injera. Does anyone have a tried-and-true recipe for this? I want to make my own.
We devoured this platter of food, and it was good. I cannot wait for my next encounter with Ethiopian food. Now that I know what I’m getting, I will probably order twice as much. When this was done, I wanted more.
We ended the night at another [very dark and hence unpictured] bar and turned in early-ish so that Jayme and I could be semi-fresh for our Sunday morning run.
[Insert grueling 8 miles in the sun that ended in Rocky pictures here.]
After running and refueling with bagels, we set off for more exploring on foot. We hit up Reading Terminal Market and then headed to Old City to gawk at historic buildings while complaining about the crazy heat.
We stumbled upon the Headhouse Farmers Market and I practically leapt into the arms of the people making these cucumber and mint lemonades. This was gone far too quickly.
True that. Several hours of dragging ourselves through the heat, and we were happy tourists but tired ones.
We had a train to catch back to New York, but we enjoyed one last meal, at Marathon Grill. Quickly ordered upon seating: iced tea and water.
No more beer; just a gigantic salad. Lots and lots of greens.
We followed this up with gelato on the way back to the train station, but the heat was so intense that my gelato melted off the cone before I could snap a focused picture. It still tasted awesome even though I had to lick it off my arm.
We reunited with our pups and made our way home to New York. Thoughts on Philly: Lovely town. Good beers. Awesome variety of cuisine. Can’t wait to go back.
And maybe for more than a day next time.
Got Philly recommendations for my next trip? Want to recommend another East Coast city for this midwestern gal to try on? Hit me up with a comment.
