Road Trip. Days 1 and 2. City of Sisterly Love.
Time for our road trip!
This year we opted for a lower-key summer vacation (well, is it really low key if we’re planning it?) and decided to do a road trip! Our first stop was Philadelphia.
We aimed to leave the house at 9am, but didn’t make it out until 9:30, which wasn’t surprising. It didn’t actually matter because the drive was shorter than expected. Including one rest stop, it was door to door in under 2.5 hours. We approached the Four Seasons Philadelphia, our regular spot. We were met with pink lemonade and Evian water bottles upon arrival. Then we headed up the 60 flight elevator and checked in. Madeleine was a little scared of how high it went, but she got over it. At check in they wheeled out a big red wagon and let the girls pick toys. They both chose plush Minions dolls, even though they’ve never seen those movies. Luckily one of our rooms was already ready, so we dropped our bags and then took the house car to brunch.
Bruch was at a restaurant called Harp and Crown. The place is very cool – it’s an older space that’s been transformed into a beautiful, elegant and refined restaurant – think: vintage luxury. On Sundays they offer an all you can eat buffet brunch for $35! It was a lavish spread and probably would’ve been $60+ if it was in New York. There were pastries, an omelet station, a bagel station with cream cheese, lox, etc., the crispiest fried potatoes ever, waffles (but not just basic buffet waffles – like really delicious waffles), tomato focaccia, cereal, yogurts, salads, mac and cheese and more. The best part was the donut station where you took a donut and did your own frosting and sprinkles. It was great and everyone enjoyed. The kids even managed to go an entire meal without an iPad.
Madeleine living her best life
After brunch we walked around Rittenhouse Square, did a little shopping, and stopped at a children’s store we’ve been to before. One thing we noticed is a lot more homeless people on the streets than our previous visits. Hallie also noticed, so that was a fun a thing to explain. I think her biggest concern was, ‘do all homeless people not have shoes?’, which to be fair, is a pretty big concern.
When we were done there we Ubered to the Franklin Institute. We took the kids to the Franklin Institute last time we were here in May 2021, but this time they had the Disney 100 exhibit, celebrating 100 years of Disney Magic. It was a walk through exhibit starting with the 1920’s all the way through today. It was cute. There were lots of props and costumes and different interactive parts where you could watch and listen to things. There was a screen that was playing We Don’t Talk About Bruno and you could select different audio tracks to hear the song in two dozen different languages. They even had Hebrew, which everyone enjoyed.
When we finished with the Disney exhibit we spent a few minutes walking through the giant heart exhibit, but everyone was finished after that. Hallie wanted to get Dippin’ Dots at the cafeteria, but they said the Dippin’ Dots cart was closed. Like, they literally could have just opened the cart. It was odd, but then they gave her a slushie for free.
When we got back to the hotel we found they had left a little Minions themed cupcake for the girls (all of the kids stuff here is Minions because the hotel is at the top of the Comcast Center (and Comcast owns Universal, the studio that made Minions)). They also left a cake for Tzvi because I told them it was his birthday. There are also mini robes and slippers that the girls love, and Minions kids toothbrushes and full size toothpaste!
Tzvi took Madeleine to the pool for a swim while I stayed in the room with Hallie, who wanted to take an extra-long bath. After a while they came back and we went to dinner.
Tonight we ate at the hotel restaurant J.G. Sky High, which is the lobby Jean Georges restaurant, not the main Jean Georges restaurant that charges $300 per person. Hallie decided to wear her Wednesday Adams outfit, right down to the black lipstick. Of course Madeleine followed, but luckily without the lipstick. Inbar wore hers as well. For appetizers we shared corn soup, corn-basil pot stickers, and chips and guac. For the main Inbar and I both had salmon and Tzvi had Fish and Chips. Hallie had pizza and Madeleine had plain pasta. Madeleine also got two sides of parmesan cheese that she gobbled up. For dessert we shared almond cake, hot chocolate cake, and a strawberry sundae. It was delicious. The kids were nuts (when they weren’t on their tablets), but it was a really nice dinner.
When we got back upstairs we found that they had written “Welcome to Philadelphia Hallie and Madeleine” on the window and left cloud pillows (because we are “above the clouds”), as well as really nice cases of colored pencils and coloring books. They are really doing it up for the kids, it’s so nice. Last time they had a little tee-pee that they set up in the room, but apparently they’ve stopped that because it was cultural appropriation, so now they just give you lots of nice stuff. Still, we’re so impressed.
We got the kids in bed and they eventually fell asleep. Inbar sat in our room watching Legally Blonde because she’d never seen it before, which I felt was unacceptable. [Tzvi: Yes, I’m sure she enjoyed it with the special Stephanie Reciting Every Word on Top of the TV Audio Track.]
Good day. Let’s see how the night goes.
Well, I slept decently until I was woken at 6:57 by sounds from the other room. Apparently the kids got up quite early, around 6, so that’s great. We stayed in bed for a while, and then got ready and went to J.G Sky High for breakfast. I was still full from last night but managed to have some avocado toast. Inbar got Eggs Benedict but without any meat or fish, so really just eggs and Hollandaise sauce on an English muffin, which seemed funny to me though who am I to judge being picky? The kids were jumping all over the booth, which is really just a continuation of the literal animals they have been since we left home. After breakfast we got our stuff and took an Uber to the Please Touch Museum.
The Museum is great. It’s not really a museum – it’s more of a massive play place that’s the size of a museum. There were a bunch of different play spaces. One was basically a full grocery store where the kids went around with a mini shopping cart and worked the check out counter. Madeleine had the best time just putting things in the cart and taking them out and “beeping” them. There was another huge space that was Alice in Wonderland themed, a baseball exhibit, and different arts and crafts areas. At the end the kids rode the carousel… three times.
When we were done, we Ubered to Goldie, the Michael Solomonov falafel shop. All along the drive Madeleine was complaining she was so hungry and wanted to eat. As soon as we got to the restaurant she literally got in her stroller, closed her eyes and fell asleep. Lunch was delicious. We had hummus and falafel platters, pita, and techina milkshakes. I think the best one was the salted caramel but Tzvi loved his coffee one. He also loved the plain one that we got to “share”, and yes, he did drink two whole milkshakes.
After lunch we walked to Reading Terminal Market, a famous Philly food market. Hallie was so tired she insisted on being in the stroller, so Tzvi carried Madeleine on his shoulders for about a mile. Hallie ended up falling asleep and missing the market entirely. We didn’t buy anything, but Madeleine bought some candy. [Tzvi: All I really wanted was a soft pretzel from the pretzel vendor the hotel recommended. We walked by and saw the pretzels, and *someone* said we should see the rest of the market and then circle back, but by the time we got back they had run out. That was sad.]
From there we walked back to the hotel, Madeleine once again insisting on riding on Tzvi’s shoulders. We walked through the Love Park, where Madeleine saw a fountain and said she wanted to go in it. We said we were going back to the hotel to swim in the pool, but she insisted she was going in the fountain. Even once we got back to the hotel she continued to insist she was going back to the park to the fountain. Eventually she acquiesced and we spent some time in the pool, before going back and changing for dinner.
We drove about twenty minutes to a neighborhood called Fishtown. I don’t really know, but it kind of felt like the Brooklyn on Philly. Dinner was at Pizzeria Beddia, which was a very nice restaurant that was kind of hidden down an alley. [Tzvi: The original Pizzeria Beddia was named by many as the best pizza in America back in 2015. At that time they were in a different smaller location and made only 40 pies a day. I guess that’s not a sustainable business model, so they closed and reopened as a real restaurant. They say it’s not as good (and not as highly regarded) as the original, but we still thought it was very good.] We ordered two cheese pies, a tomato pie, and a white pie with corn that Tzvi and Inbar shared. We also had a bunch of apps, which were great.
Nothing called to us for dessert so we left and walked around the corner to Jeni’s Ice Cream. I got a blackberry pie flavor and Tzvi got coffee and gooey butter cake. It was very good.
We drove back to the hotel and, after some work, got the kids to bed. The kids have been nuts. Maybe they’ll calm down when we get to Hershey… and feed them more candy?
