Surely you've heard me talk about our new dear friends Katie and Alex that we met here in our apartment building (they moved to Cali from New York around the same time we did!). Well, this past weekend they got MARRIED!! We were honored to be invited to their intimate party with a guest list of just 60 of their closest friends and family and had been looking forward to this weekend almost as much as the bride and groom!
Thursday, July 4th
Our journey began Thursday morning as we flew out of Oakland, through Denver, and then off to Philly. Of course we had to start our trip with some bloody marys at the airport!
We arrived in Philadelphia around 8:30pm and checked in to our beautiful room at the Hotel Monaco. Thanks to my hotel room picture obsession, you can see what it looked like! Pretty swanky, huh?
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| Looking at the hotel restaurant's menu. |
We were starving, so we headed down to the hotel restaurant for dinner, and two complimentary glasses of wine since we checked in after that day's cocktail hour! After dinner, we went to the rooftop lounge for drinks with the bride and groom and a friend of theirs. Not too long after, the three of them retreated to their rooms, but being that Will and I were still on Pacific Time (so to us it was only about 10pm) we weren't at all ready for sleep. So out we went to adventure around the Old Town neighborhood of Philly. We stopped at a few bars and a brewery, before realizing that we were on the East Coast and that we could actually get real East Coast pizza! (Pizza is one thing that Cali is still working out . . .) Pete's Pizza Joint was the real deal!
At bar time we figured it was about time to head back! We had a big weekend in front of us!
Friday, July 5th
On Friday we had most of the day to ourselves before the cocktail party later that evening. When we got back to the room Thursday night I had the great idea to order room service breakfast from the door hanger in our room. It was delightful to wake up the next morning to a breakfast delivered to us!
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| yum! |
After breakfast we headed out to adventure the historical sites. We started with a tour along Elfreth's Alley, which is known as the country's oldest residential street.
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| Elfreth's Alley |
From there we walked north and then over toward the Delaware River and saw this on the way:
We had a small lunch at Morgan's Pier.
We meandered along the waterfront, through Old Town, and into the Historic District. There we had reservations for a tour through Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written.
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| Supreme Court Room |
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| Assembly Room |
Next we took a tour through Congress Hall, which is where the U.S. Congress met when Philadelphia was the capitol of the United States.
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| Where the House of Representatives met. |
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| Ben Franklin watching over the House of Representatives! |
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| Where the Senate met. |
After a busy, HOT day it was time to get back to the hotel to get ready for the cocktail hour, which was held in a private room on the rooftop of our hotel. It could be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it, but we didn't take any pictures that night, we were having so much fun! Maybe we can get some from others . . . After the cocktail party the "kids" went out. Will and I were still wide awake so we stayed out a little longer before heading back to the hotel. What a fun night we had meeting all of the bride and groom's friends and family that we had been hearing so much about!
Saturday, July 6th
We slept in after having a couple of late nights, and wanting to be ready for the wedding later Saturday night! We started the day with a walk over to
Reading Terminal to get some lunch. We ate at Carmen's Cheesesteaks where Obama once visited!
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| Sitting at the counter, watching the guys make our food! |
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| They even had a fake meat one for me! |
From there we walked all over! We stopped at JFK Plaza/Love Park . . .
Then we walked toward the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We stopped at the Rodin Museum . . .
And we stopped outside the Philadelphia Museum of Arts. There are so many fountains around this area of the city!
It was time to make a quick jaunt back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding! On our walk we passed Will's Eye Institute and got a little goofy . . .
Here are a few shots from the wedding. Hopefully we'll get more soon from the professional pictures.
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| We just LOVE these guys! |
Sunday, July 7th
The mother of the groom hosted a delicious brunch for us this morning as a send off for the guests. It was so nice to be able to see everyone one last time. Later that day we joined the bride, groom, and a couple of their friends to attend the Phillies game. Alex's dad gets Diamond Club tickets through work, so the ladies took those and the boys took the regular, though still very good, seats. We were only in our seats for a short time since it was SO hot! We spent most of the game in shaded areas with all eight of us.
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| View from Diamond Club seats. |
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| View from the boys' seats. |
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| We sneaked Will into the Diamond Club seats by transferring the wristbands! |
After a fun filled weekend it was time to head home. Alex dropped us off at the airport after the game since they are right next to one another. We flew Virgin airlines home, and I had some requests for pictures, so here ya go! It wasn't anything too special.
Due to the tragic events Saturday afternoon at SFO our flight was significantly delayed; though we were happy to even make it home since many flights were cancelled altogether and many people didn't get into SF until later in the week. We got home much later than anticipated, so the train from SFO to our neighborhood was already closed for the night. After weighing options for how to get home, we decided it would be cheaper to get a rental car for a day and drive ourselves rather than get a cab. Do what you gotta do . . .
We had such a fun weekend exploring a new city and celebrating the nuptials of our very dear friends.
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