East Coast Adventures: Philadelphia

I'm on holiday from my holiday. Because, you know, being a lady of leisure in New York is so exhausting. I've embarked on a two week getaway, which I'm now into my third city so as always what a slacker. I'm in Miami already, but let's do this chronologically and start with the beginning, Philadelphia.

Liz, Charlie and I spent last weekend in Philadelphia with our exchange-sister Katelin (we swapped Liz for her in 2000). I hadn't seen Katelin for nearly 10 years, so it was pretty awesome to hang out with her for the weekend. She very kindly put us up at her place, even though she was graduating and moving house that weekend. We also crashed the family graduation BBQ, which was a classic all-American experience complete with a keg and RED KEG CUPS.

Possibly the most exciting/terrifying part was hiring a car. I drove. On the wrong side. Driving on the wrong-side really is a three-person job - each of us has an important role as big turn, little turn and centre. Obviously we survived, and I even drove on the freeway and in the city. Actually, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, but then I was driving at nanna speeds and with the assistance of two back-seat drivers. So that was pretty cool.

Philadelphia is beautiful. I couldn't stop exclaiming in delight at every beautiful big white or stone house, flowering garden and quaint city street. It is also the "first gluten-free neighborhood in the U.S.", so I was happy as Larry (if Larry was gluten-free and spent a weekend in Philadelphia). This included the gluten-free, vegan, kosher, dairy-free, soy-free, corn-free, refined-sugar-free, must-be-made-of-fairy-dust bakery Sweet Freedom. One of my favourite aspects of the bakery is it's tagline 'baking you happy'. HA. It just tickles. Don't be fooled by this seemingly exhaustive list of delicious-making things that are not used, because I promise it is actually delicious. If you're here at my blog because you're gluten-free and heading to Philly (i.e. if you're not related to me, then this must be the only reason), I recommend you visit the Gluten Free Philly blog, which is pretty spectacular. However, I found that all the places I went to knew what gluten was and could cater to gluten-free. One place even had a gluten-free menu, I can't remember what the place was, which I feel bad about, but it was a really nice little tapas and wine bar...

Here's some photos.