Road Trip: Philadelphia

 We stopped in Philadelphia for dinner. We tried Sonny's for cheesesteaks and they were delicious. I love the architecture in Philadelphia and wish we could have spent more time there.

An evening in Philly.

After spending the morning at Longwood Gardens, we were feeling adventurous and decided to head to Philadelphia since we were so close. I really like Philadelphia and we haven't explored it nearly enough. We were excited to see some of the Christmasy things going on.

Our first order of business was devouring a Philly cheesesteak. We've been to Tony Luke's before but hadn't experienced such a long wait. Luckily all three kids were sound asleep in the car (which rarely happens) so I hung out in the car while Ben waited for our meaty sandwiches.

The kids were really excited about all of the tall buildings, something we lack in D.C.

Our next stop was the Comcast Center to see the Comcast Holiday Spectacular—a short Christmas movie they project throughout the day on a huge screen (the largest four-mm LED video display in the world, apparently).

We walked over to Love Park for some photos.

We passed by a really fun art installation of giant game pieces. The kids could have climbed on these all night.

Our last stop was Macy's. They have a fun light show inside that's been around since the 1950s. The building is really beautiful (Macy's is inside the Wanamaker building...home of the historic Wanamaker Organ). The Wanamaker Organ plays musical accompaniment while thousands of lights create holiday images and scenes in the four-story-high atrium.

(Macy's window display.)

They also have this elaborate Dickens Village in Macy's where you can walk through and see all the scenes from "A Christmas Carol" which they have recreated using animatronic figures. The girls thought a lot of it was kind of creepy.

Our time in Philly was brief but festive. I already have a list of places to visit next time we return.