Philly Day 3

Good morning! I need to get caught up from yesterday, which was a busy day! And fun! We got up early again and enjoyed an amazing cup of coffee with Penzey's cinnamon and nutmeg (the cinnamon, I found out today, from Vietnam, China and Indonesia! Yum!) Even though I lived in New Jersey for a year, I never went to Princeton! We had plans to go somewhere in Jersey and decided to add it to the trip!

We parked near the campus and walked down the main road, Nassau Street, a while. We stopped in Small World Coffee and had a cafe au lait. They gave us separate little decanters with coffee and warmed milk so we could mix our own. A nice touch! My friend introduced me to this coffee a couple of years ago and brought me a bag in Phoenix. It's a great, small independent place that roasts the beans in Marlton, NJ. http://www.smallworldcoffee.com/ I purchased two bags (Joker Poker and Indie Blend, so my bag will smell wonderfully for the rest of the trip!!)

We then walked down Main Street for a bit, and enjoyed the quaint storefronts. We crossed the street to go onto the Princeton campus, which was amazing! There's a huge church made of this beautiful stone. Most of the buildings are of the same stone and the campus is really a showpiece. There's large metal sculptures sprinkled around, and lots of mature trees shading from the sun. It's really hot and muggy here now but yesterday was fairly nice, and the humidity was lower than it's been. In the shade it was quite pleasant. There was some kind of filming going on, and we watched for a few minutes then headed on to tour the rest of the campus. It's very easy to see the school is well funded! There's a building with plaques from many of the classes, and has 1971, 1952, 1993, etc. rimming the building. 

We toured for a little while more then crossed back over to Main Street in search of lunch. We were too full from dinner last night to even think of eating until then! We found PJ's Pancake House, a famous Princeton place and a landmark in the city. They offered breakfast and lunch during this time (breakfast is offered all day). I got my Philly cheesesteak with a swiss substitution, and it was great. I rarely eat red meat but when in Philly..

We next went to Grounds for Sculpture, which we found out was unfortunately closed. It's a beautiful area with lots of large and very interesting sculptures. There's a restaurant called 'Rats' there, named after some literary character, but I chuckle at the name for a restaurant. Seems kind of wrong to me. We walked around that area and saw some galleries as well, with several cute sculptures of couples from the 1800's wandering through the courtyard, and there was one in the window looking down on us too!

On the drive out we could see some of the brightly-colored sculputres in the fields of grass and trees. Maybe next time! www.groundsforsculpture.org/

Since I have never been to the area where my friend lives, we did some exploring htere. We drove to Washington Crossing, which was the site of.. you guessed it! Washington's crossing!

www.ushistory.org/washingtoncrossing and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Crossing_Historic_Park.

It marks the area where Washington crossed the delaware during the Revolutionary War. The grounds are beautiful. We walked by quite a few historic homes, and a gazebo to the bridge, and walked for the first time that day into NJ! Reenactments are done here, and the grounds really are beautiful overlooking the river. We walked the hilly landscape under gorgeous mature trees for a while, appreciating the shady canopy, then headed to the Washington Crossing Inn for a cool beverage.

The Inn is gorgeous and the grounds even more so. We sat outside on the back patio and chatted with some of the people there. The bartender is going to the University of Phoenix (where I work!) What a small world. We then drove through Newtown, which is beautiful and historic. We took note of the plaques on some of the homes, marking them as having been built in the early 1800's and some in the 1700's. Everything there is beautiful and well-kept.

We went back to their house for a bit to get ready for dinner, and headed to New Hope and Lambertville to walk around. New Hope is known for the 'alternate lifestyle' and is a very artsy and fun community. There was a really nice Irish store that we checked checked out, and a couple of pet stores, one of which we went into. We then for the second time walked over a bridge into New Jersey, into Lambertville this time. It's a small town and very quaint known for antiques.

We went to Lambertville Station for a drink, a quaint little tavern, and then over to the Boathouse, which was right next to the restaurant we planned to dine at. it was really cute! A very small place decorated with everything nautical from mastheads, pictures, tin cups. Decorations were adorning the walls and ceilings, filling every spot of wood on the walls! The bartended was a character as well and we enjoyed talking with him a bit. We purchased a bottle of wine there as the restaurant is a BYO, and walked over. The wine we got, a french Pouilly-Fuisse, was excellent.

We enjoyed a great dinner outside on the patio including oysters and mussels, crab cakes and an interesting dish with a sheet of pasta over a poached egg, ham and spinach. We had duck, skate and liver (surprising the two of us who didn't order the liver that we kind of liked it!) The desserts were pretty good, and I definitely scored with the key lime pie. They got a berry mousse and an almond cookie. www.hamiltonsgrillroom.com

We walked back along the water to get to the car and saw fish dancing in the canal. It was a really lovely day and I have enjoyed everything we've done thoroughly! Of course, I may never eat again once I leave here, but we are all major foodies so it's been really nice to go to some amazing restaurantsand have such truly amazing food!!! I love that about my friends. Today we got up early and went for a walk for a couple of miles. We are heading into the city for lunch, then I'm going to visit with my cousin for a couple of days before returning home. I can't wait to see him!