Travel Tuesday: My Day Trip to Philadelphia

I took a trip to Philadelphia for the day yesterday and had such a good time! It was my first time I visited in a year and many things have changed. Seriously, so much was under construction. A couple of new things punctuated my rounds of my old favorites.

It was a sunny and the high for the day was about 52 degrees F in the city. I took an aisle seat after I boarded the train, but then hopped over to a window seat at the first stop. Even though I have so much of my winter reading list to go through, I downloaded a couple of books that will be on my spring list onto my Kindle before the trip. Both books were written by amazing bloggers I follow. I enjoyed reading a bit of Thirty Slim Days: Create your slender and healthy life in a fun and enjoyable way by Fiona Ferris (of the blog How to be Chic) and The Life I Imagined: My Personal Renaissance in Florence, Italy by Karen L. Mills (of the blog An American in Italy) on the ride.

I arrived at 30th Street Station and then crossed the street and headed downstairs to the subway in order to travel downtown, a neighborhood called Center City. I bought a paper subway ticket on a touch-screen kiosk rather than a token machine I’ve been used to. Unfortunately, the paper ticket didn’t scan through the turnstile well at all.

I headed for my favorite shopping district first, Chestnut and Walnut Streets. Walking up Chestnut, my first stop was Sephora. Even though I am not too low at the moment, I bought my signature lipstick, Dolce Vita by NARS, nonetheless.

Next, I wanted to try this new Italian cafe on the same block, Gran Caffe L’Aquila. I had walked past it before and since L’Aquila is the capital of the odd Italian region I studied abroad in, vowed to try it on my next visit. In some travel research, I checked them out online and was anticipating my visit. Yesterday, when I walked up to the cashier, she greeted me with a buon giorno. I love that. I ordered a cappuccino and chocolate croissant, taking a seat at the white marble-topped counter to savor. The coffee and pastry were truly delicious. They served the coffee with a small glass of water which is routine in Italy. I also loved seeing the products around the bar area, items like chocolates and drinks that I only tend to see in Italy as well. I instagrammed my (second!) breakfast, hopefully sharing just how happy I was with my followers.

After the cafe, I crossed the street and wandered around a little mall. I browsed Victoria’s Secret and my favorite jewelry store Fire & Ice. At each of their locations I come across, I gaze at a stunningly beautiful bracelet of dark pink rubies each cut in a pear shape. I’ve been stalking it for years now. I have a ruby pendant on a necklace and ruby stud earrings. One day, I will make the lovely bracelet mine too. Maybe even for my birthday next month! Back out in the sunshine, I strolled to my favorite little accessories shop, Tselaine. It was fun to browse, but their selection is more quirky than classic, so I happened to leave empty-handed. I walked down Walnut, and then up past the central City Hall. Again, I browsed Macy’s beautiful location for silver bangles, but didn’t find what I was looking for. Walking further down Market Street, I also enjoyed browsing the home department at Marshalls but didn’t have to have anything. Even though I lived in Philadelphia, I have never been there. I did quickly walk through the similar discount department store Ross, but didn’t find the housewares section there, so I left. The mall that it’s in is under construction, so maybe that had something to do with it…

I turned around and stopped at one of my favorite places in the city, a large indoor market call the Reading Terminal Market. My first stop was Termini Bros., but unfortunately, they were out of cranberry pistachio biscotti. I decided against picking up a different kind of biscotti. It is easy for me to spend money, but on a budget, it’s difficult to spend a lot or on things I haven’t been obsessed with. I contemplated going to their South Philly location. (I didn’t even look locations up on my phone, but in writing this post, I discovered that they also had a stand at the central Comcast Center.) I turned around and picked up a small mixed bag of 1/4 pound of dark chocolate covered vanilla and chocolate butter creams from the quirky Mueller Chocolate Co. They are good, but not my favorite. I wandered through the market, taking everything in. I tend to take a trip to Philadelphia on either a Sunday or Monday (which are my days off from work). Even though it was lunchtime and busy, it wasn’t slammed busy on this particular Monday, with everyone trying not to bump into each other like it is on a weekend day. It was nice. On the way out, I stopped by The Famous 4th Street Cookie Company. I ordered 1/4 pound of chocolate chip cookies (which is two cookies) as usual, but the gentleman behind the counter politely informed me that they sell them by the number of cookies now, another change I encountered. I ordered two cookies and he teased me about two dozen.

Then, I found myself strolling up Chestnut Street again. Not particularly interested in clothing shopping that day and not having started on my spring capsule wardrobe yet, I stopped in H&M on a whim. Why not? It’s a cheap store and I could simply browse. Well, I found a sheer black blouse with a pleated front and short flutter sleeves discounted from $24.99 to $10 as well as two short sleeve tees priced at either $5.99 each or 2 for $10. One tee was a black scoop neck and the other was a dark gray v-neck. $20 for three tops, one fancy and two basics, was such a good deal. Plus, in Pennsylvania, there isn’t any sales tax on clothing.

I also patronized the new Nordstrom Rack location, selecting round one carat size cubic zirconia stud earrings. Usually, I buy a new pair once a year on or around my birthday and then wear my signature earrings more than all of my other earrings combined. I’ll be sparkly for my birthday this year. I kinda like picking up a pair of earrings as my souvenir on a trip.