Walking in the city

Since finishing all my work for the semester on Wednesday, I have done the following: cleaned the house, hosted a small party, attended a large party, cooked goodies for both parties, finished Christmas shopping, wrapped Christmas presents, read my "the semester is done, I can read for fun!" book, and watched all the TV saved on the DVR.  Yesterday I woke up knowing that Greg was going to be gone all day, and realizing that I would be bored.

So I decided to take a walk.  There's a very cool website called walkjogrun.net where you can map out routes and get the mileage.  I had read a while back about an event called "Walk the City" in New York where people get together and walk from the top of Manhattan to the bottom.  Philly isn't quite the same shape, and I needed to start and end at home, but I had figured out a route that would hit a lot of the big spots.  When I mapped it out, it turned out to be a 7.5 mile walk.  I knew that this was probably a bad idea, since I hadn't built up to it at all.  I walk quite a bit, but usually only a couple of miles at a time.  However, there is a stubborn streak in me, and since I had nothing else to do for the day, I decided to go for it.  I brought along some subway tokens in case it turned out to be too much.  

My main regret was that I didn't have anyone to join me on the walk, but I loaded up my iPod with podcasts and set off.  I brought my camera along to record anything interesting I saw.  Above is a sign near our house that made me laugh.  I mean, I like liver more than the average bear, but even I'm not clamoring for liver sausage.  Apparently some people are.

A band was playing outside of Geno's.  I'm not sure why they were there, but I appreciated the music.

This is a restaurant that we planned to eat at for my birthday in October.  Hasn't happened yet.

//Buddy the elf voice//:  SANTA!

And here's South Street, the ultimate Saturday night destination for college freshmen.

A little place I like to call Independence Hall.

Here's City Hall.  But the really exciting thing is that, in between Independence Hall and City Hall, I passed someone famous on the street!  Well, famous in the Philadelphia sense.  It was one of the ticketers from the show Parking Wars, which Greg and I have been devouring lately.  

And here's the new Comcast Center.  From here I walked up to the Art Museum, then back home.  Sunday I woke up and felt like my entire body was broken.  But, it was a nice way to spend the day, and if anyone is ever in Philly and feels like taking a long walk, I'd love the company.