Philadelphia

I had to go to Philadelphia for some business, and stayed with a friend who lives there. Some people say Philadelphia is like New York's uglier and less accomplished younger brother, though the same is also said of New Jersey. What I like about Philadelphia is it is smaller, less crowded, and cheaper. The main thing about New York is that it has so many options, and a lot of them are more grandiose, but Philly is a very liveable city. There is a nice shopping district, and amazing ice cream, all within a short distance.

What is not so great about Philly is the lack of Chinese food options. Yes, there is a Chinatown, but it's not a very good one. I happened to run into my cousin at the worst Chinese Restaurant I have been to in some time. What puzzles me is that it was rated so well on yelp. I don't remember the name, but I wish I did so I could warn people not to go there. It's right next door to Lam Zhou Hand Pulled Noodles, which has very good spicy beef tendon. Anyhow, when I ran into my cousin, I complained to her about how awful the food was. She was with a non Chinese friend, who was there for their soup dumplings. These were awful soup dumplings. They were way too sweet, and didn't have a good crab flavor like good crab and pork soup dumplings do. Pretty much everything at the restaurant was bad, except for this one tofu dish. 

My friend lives with a roommate, who bought the house about 8 years ago. Since then, it has tripled in value. It used to be a very bad neighborhood, but it has gotten a lot better. A few blocks up, it appears less safe. The roommate said that the block used to be run be some gang that sold heroin (or maybe cocaine?) "it was so safe then," she said, "because the gang didn't want police coming around their homes, so they would actually police the streets and prevent crime. They did a better job than the actual police. Then something happened and they moved away, and right away there were two burglaries on the block." Apparently her dad had visited back then, and was wary of the men in cars leering at him. When they saw him with her though, they had assured him that they kept an eye on his daughter to make sure she was safe.

They have a dog with very strange teeth. She has a severe underbite, which makes her face look funny, in a cute way. I commented on it and my friend snapped, "stop talking about her teeth, she's sensitive about it!" Indeed, every time I tried to take a photo of her face, the dog would turn her head away to not show her teeth! Animals are so funny. I managed to get one eventually.

Philadelphia City Hall is not well organized at all. The sign that they post up has grammar errors, saying "sign you're name" instead of "sign your name." It's not worth talking about, but I pity anyone who has to go do anything there. 

I had amazing gelato AND amazing ice cream. One of the best in a while. The gelato place is called Capogiro, and it was rated best in the world by National Geographic. I had their cashew and dulce de leche. The ice cream place is what ice cream should be, hard, dense and creamy, in contrast to the gelato, which was soft, rich, and creamy but light. The ice cream place, Basset's, it's supposedly the oldest ice cream shop in the United States. I had their Irish Coffee and Vanilla with hot fudge, which made me think of childhood, when Haagan Daaz used to make bailey's ice cream. It was an enormous portion, but I ate all of it. 

Philadelphia is nick named the city of brotherly love, but to me it will be the city of ice cream, because that may be my most memorable experience. I ate at some restaurants too but they are far over shadowed by the amazing frozen treats.

The bus ride back was horrible. It was pouring rain, and the bus was an hour late. There was no shelter, so I was completely soaked and cold. Luckily I had a change of clothes in my bag so I could put on dry clothes when I got on the bus. Megabus is horrible. I guess they are super cheap, so you get the customer service that you pay for. 

By the Building of Municipal Services