Philadelphia Day 2

Hello again, and welcome! What a fun day we had today! We first touring the Reading Terminal and the recent renovations they've had. It's in indoor market complete with every yummy goodness imaginable: farmer's markets, salumerias, delis, restaurants, bakeries... and on and on. We picked up a ginger scone and a bavarian-style pretzel with carraway seeds and salt for a snack. We went on a mural arts tour, and took a trolley around the city to learn about,and enjoy, some of the 3,500 murals around the city.

Philadelphia is often now known as the 'city of murals'. What an amazing way to explore the city! We got to tour many neighborhoods and got to see 40-50 murals, ranging from small areas to the entire sides of buildings. We also saw several mosaics, which were beautiful. This organization started in 1984, evolving from the Philadelphia anti-graffiti Network started Mayor Wilson Goode to eradicate the city of graffiti. Jane golden was hired to run the organization, and developed a respectful relationship with the graffiti artists, recognizing the raw talent that they had. Their motto, 'Art Saves Lives' really tells their story, engaging convicts, teens and all ages from all walks of life to beautify the city in a grass-roots effort to build community and build a sense of belonging while promotoing art and beautification.

We took the center city mural arts trolley tour: http://muralarts.org/tour/trolley-tours. Some of the artists included Meg Saligman and others. The murals were really impressive, ranging from sports characters, heroes and social issues portrayed by beautiful artistry. We then went back to the Reading Terminal to cool off and enjoy some mimosas. After two, we stumbled our way out and then headed to the Constitution Center, which had some recent renovations. We watched the presentation/movie which was really interesting, then walked through some of the exhibits reading through the history of the country and recent history, then walked through the 'framers', the life-sized statues of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. We enjoyed the view of Independence Mall, across the way is the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

We made our way over to Society Hill, including lots of colonials in an older part of the city. It's a very residential and historic area, and quite beautiful. We walked toward South Street and went into Bridget Foys for a drink and a snack. It's in the mid-90s and very humid, so we needed to cool off. We walked down South Street for a bit. It's a rather intersting area of town with an eclectic vibe, including eateries and, oh, unique boutiques. :o)

After walking a bit and feeling quite hot and sticky, we decided to head toward the restaurant. First we went to Cuba Libre for yet anothe drink to cool off. It's an adorable very cuban-style restaurant that I've been to once before. I am not a fan of mojitos usually but was told they are amazing here so I tried it. Yum! It was excellent!

Then we headed to the restaurant where we had reservations. Amada was, in a word, excellent. http://www.amadarestaurant.com/ Our waitress was amazing, and the restaurant was gorgeous. The food was incredible. We got the tasting menu and it was plentiful. We got tapas and one wine tasting that we shared. Some of the plates included jamon iberico, octopus (which I tried and surprisingly liked) with paprika and potato slices, lavash with tuna and capers, spinach salad with dates, toasted nuts and wrapped in serrano ham, pesto scallops, toast with a black truffle spread and an egg, shrimp mixture that I'm not doing justice to in describing, but it was amazing.

We also had artichokes in a parmesan sauce, flatbread in manchego, lamb chops, tile fish from florida in a tomato broth with the chef's personal garden vegetables, lamb meatballs with a cream sauce, anchovies with green olives and roasted pine nuts, and oyster and trumpet mushrooms with pesto... oh, amazing! We had a white, rose, red and a sparkling for wine. Dessert was a strawberry rubarb with a cakey-typed cookie and a strawberry marshmellow creme, and a chocolate hazelnut layered cake with a banana saffron ice cream and toasted hazelnuts.

We thought we might need to roll out of there but slowly made our way. Unfortunately, it was a bit too swampy to walk it off so we stumbled to the car to make our way back to their house. Yet another amazing dining experience. Yum! Yes, we are eating our way through Philly, which is something I've done before and yet, this time is very different and quite good. Yum. Double Yum. Very fun day with the murals tour and the good eats. Looking forward to more tomorrow!!! Have a great night all! s