Sunday 4th January-
I got the bus from NYC to Philadelphia early in the morning and met my aunt Geraldine and uncle Matt at 30th Street Station. They brought me to their house in South Philly and I got settled in. That evening my aunt and I went for a walk along the Delaware river and pier 17 to the Benjamin Franklin bridge.
Monday 5th January-
Tuesday 6th January-
It had snowed during the night and temperatures dropped to very cold. We decided to go the the Italian Market which is quite close to where my aunt and uncle live. It was fairly quite because of the weather and a few of the traders didn't open stalls. After a while of walking around we headed home out of the cold. That evening I had a famous Philly Cheese-steak Sandwich.
Wednesday 7th January-
It was too cold and slippery to walk anywhere, so we relaxed indoors for the day. I decided to bake a vegetarian lasagne.
Thursday 8th January-
Had dinner out at The Royal Tavern even though their heating was broken and it was almost as cold inside as outside!
Friday 9th January-
We walked into the city today. We visited an indoors market where all sorts of baked desserts, home made cheeses and meats could be bought. It was incredibly busy there. We bought an apple pie which was delicious. Matt went to Cape Cod for the weekend to complete a training course.
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| Downtown Philly |
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| Chinatown |
Saturday 10th January-
We spent the whole day waiting for cable to show up, which they did not.
Sunday 11th January-
Today we went to see the historical sights of Philadelphia. We visited the Independence Hall, saw the Liberty bell and The Irish Famine Memorial. It was a nice day spent learning about some of America's history.
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| Liberty Hall |
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| The Liberty Bell |
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| The Scottish Memorial |
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| Irish Famine Memorial |
Monday 12th January-
We spent the day once again waiting for the cable company, who once again did not show up. Frustrating is not the word!
Tuesday 13th January-
Today we went to Philadelphia Zoo, the oldest zoo in America. It's a really lovely zoo that's very conservation orientated. As they didn't have room to expand outwards, they decided to build up! There is a series of overhead runways and pathways that the animals can use to travel around the zoo. The big cats seemed to make the most use of these. We spotted a female tiger in one pathway and a lioness with four cubs in another. They probably were enjoying their vantage point and the more direct sunshine up high. I got some lovely photos of the tigers and lions before my camera stopped working. I think I turned it off accidentally while it was zoomed out. Many of the animals were being kept inside for winter and unfortunately you could not view them. It was still a lovely day though, we were there from opening to close!
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| A male Amur tiger |
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| I was slightly surprised when the tiger jumped up! |
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| Baby lionesses in their overhead walkway |
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| Sister Mountain Lions |
Wednesday 14th January-
Thursday 15th January-
Geraldine and I got the early train to Washington D.C for the day. We were on a mission and got to see almost all of the historical sights including; Capitol Hill, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery and the White House. These were all very impressive and great to see. Arlington cemetery was sad to see and really puts the casualties of war into perspective. The rows and rows of headstones were unnerving. It was however nice to see that every grave had a Christmas wreath on it and was well kept. We arrived at the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers just as the guard was being changed. This grave has been guarded perpetually since 1939. After Arlington we visited the White House and took pictures from afar. We treated ourselves to a fancy lunch after all our walking around and thinking we had hours to kill started walking back to the train station. I decided to go into the natural history museum to see what was in the main hall and we realised that the museums were free! We spent the rest of the day at the Smithsonian natural history museum and the National museum of art. We saw many stuffed animals, skeletons, rocks and beautiful paintings by famous artists such as Picasso, Monet and Vincent Van Gogh. The train home got delayed because of a broken down train in front of us so it was about 10pm when we got home. Safe to say as soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep!
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| Capitol Hill |
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| The Washington Memorial is fairly huge! |
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| Korean War Memorial |
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| J.F.K's grave |
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| Arlington cemetery |
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| The Tomb of Unknown Soldiers |
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| Outside Smithsonian Natural History Museum |
Friday 16th January-
Matt had class in Cape Cod again this weekend so Geraldine and I headed up too. It's about a six hour drive from Philly to Cape Cod. The drive was lovely and I really enjoyed getting to see New England. It reminded me of home in a way with it's forests and low stone walls. It was evening time when we arrived and we just caught the sunset over the ocean. This was the first time I've seen the ocean since I left home in August. We'd rented a lovely cottage close to a beach for the weekend which had everything you'd have at home including videos, DVDs, board games and books. We relaxed for the evening after the long drive and I started to read The Hobbit.
Saturday 17th January-
While Matt was in class, Geraldine and I walked around West Yarmouth. We visited the beach and collected seashells. I was amazed that there were pools of frozen sea water and a line of ice marked the high tide zone. It's fairly odd seeing ice of a beach! As we walked back along the beach the wind was facing us and our cheeks just about froze :P It was -9*C. We walked through the little town although most of the shops were shut up until the Spring. We saw a cranberry bog along the road, I never knew cranberries grow underwater. I walked down to the beach to watch a beautiful sunset. It's strange sitting on a beach and hearing the waves push ice along the shore. That evening we cooked fresh shrimp pasta which was delicious.
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| High tide line |
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| On frozen salt water |
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| Sunset on Cape Cod |
Sunday 18th January-
As we had to check out by 12, my aunt and I cleaned the house and packed in the morning. On his break Matt dropped us off to the shopping mall in Hyanis. We spent 3 hours here browsing the shops and finding on sale bargains. I bought a long wool coat for $12 and a jumper for $2! Once Matt's class was over he collected us and we headed north from Cape Cod to his mother's house in Worcester, Massachusetts. As the Patriots were playing in the football semi-finals we watched the game. They trashed the colts with a score of 45-7.
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| Cape Cod bungalow |
Monday 19th January-
We got up early and headed off back down the road to Philadelphia. I slept for a lot of the drive because I knew I wouldn't get much that night. When we got home I packed up my bags for the bus to New York. Even though I would be getting up at 3am to go to the bus station I stayed up chatting with Geraldine until well after one which was lovely :)
I really enjoyed my time with my aunt Geraldine, uncle Matt and their two cats. I had a great time and got to see so much that I didn't expect which I really appreciated. I hope you enjoyed this blog, my next one will be about traveling to New York city and finally back to Missoula, Montana!- Fiona :)
