Day 9 - Sunday, June 27 - Philadelphia

Day 9 - Sunday, June 27 - Philadelphia


I used the gym one more time before Steve showed up at our hotel Sunday morning for the drive to Philadelphia.
He arrived early, about the time for me to shower. I hurried. Packed. And we got a bellhop for luggage.  


These guys have a system. One guy gets the luggage downstairs, and a different one gets it out to the street, to the car.  They did the same in reverse when we arrived. Muchos tipos.


The Edison strictly (and I agree, wisely) kept all luggage out of the actual sitting area of the lobby, which applied to us b/c I had to walk 1/3 of a mile to fetch the car from 50th and 10th Ave.  Renate and Steve remained in the AC, guarding luggage. As promised by the internet coupon, the parking fee was $16 per diem = $48.  The Edison would have been $105!   Thanks, Mark.


An uneventful trip to the Lincoln Tunnel, NJ Turnpike, and Philadelphia ... though there was some weird turn I took that got me to the Ben Franklin Bridge via a city street that I think could've been avoided. Checking maps NOW, I probably missed a circuitous, but all-freeway route via I-295. 
Moral: Ask about best route from NY to Philly before going.


The Downtown Hyatt is one block from City Hall which sits in a large square at the intersection of Market and Broad Streets.

Our Hotel (Downtown Marriott) is red box. Purple grid above represents Convention center (Soon expanding westward to Broad Street). Dad and Ed north of Convention Center at Travel Lodge, next door to an Islamist-run homeless shelter.
Until about 1987, by city ordinance, no building could exceed the height of the head of William Penn's statue, which crowns City Hall.
Info from http://www.aviewoncities.com/philadelphia/cityhall.htm

"Planned in 1870...construction of the building started the following year after a design by John McArthur, Jr. in the then very popular Second Empire style. The ambitious project was to result in the tallest building in the world but by the time it was completed in 1901 after 30 years of construction, it had been eclipsed by theWashington Monument and the Eiffel Tower.

The enormous city hall is still the tallest and largest masonry building in the world. Since no steel frame was used, the walls at the first floor are up to 22ft thick to support all the weight from the floors above. The eight floors, each about 16ft high, look like just three floors from the outside.

The central tower reaches a height of 511 ft. It is topped by a statue of William Penn. The massive statue is 37 ft high and weighs 27 ton. It is just one of 250 sculptures created by Alexander Calder for both the interior and exterior of the city hall."

A 3rd floor Pedestrian Bridge over 11th St took us straight to Exhibition Hall, where the Barbershop Shop was. From there a wide, block-long corridor took us to the Convention Center.  Lots of bathrooms.
Steve and Mark and Steffi had rooms on our floor, the 10th. Steve had the nicest room with Market Street view, divan, and king-sized bed.
We toured a little of the Convention center area.





Dinner - Steve's pick - was at Sole Food, a fish restaurant across the street, inside the Lowe's Hotel.


More cosmopolitans for Steve. Service and food was good. (And it was across the street!)