We have a home!

This Monday we moved into our new apartment on Pennsylvania Avenue in Philadelphia.  We are really happy with the location and the apartment - we have a lovely view of the city and are right across the street from a large park.

Last week I flew home to Canada to get all of our stuff.  Vincent was to join me on Friday evening (he was in France for a meeting) so that we could load up the truck and drive back to Philly together.  However, due to a strike in France, his flight was cancelled and he ended up getting home on Saturday night.  I picked him up at the airport at 10PM - we headed back to Belleville, slept and then hit the road right away on Sunday.  Who needs rest?

Fortunately, Dad was there to help me load the truck, arrange everything and tie it all down.  What would I do without our moving expert?  And, the drive to Philly went really well - good weather, no line-ups at the border and the truck ran well.

Monday morning was our big move-in date, and we woke up to pouring rain!  But, we got everything into the apartment quickly and nothing got too wet.  Then, we went on a big adventure to return the U-Haul.  I had googled the closest location, so off we went, me in the truck and Vincent following in the car.  Little did I know that the location I had found was in a really rough neighbourhood.  After many u-turns through garbage strewn streets we finally found the location, only to be told that they no longer accept U-Haul returns.  The second try was a place where we saw two U-Hauls on the street and figured that was a good sign.  However, there was no storefront.  Some very helpful young men who just happened to be sitting at the side of the road (in a very nice vehicle) told us to bang on some random door.  Fortunately no one answered, as there was no way I wanted to go into this building, which looked like it was about to fall down.  Finally, we found another abandoned place, but they had a drop box, so we left the U-Haul there. 

This is the neighbour hood we drove around in for an hour, trying to locate a place to leave the truck!

By this time I was starving and grumpy, so we got some Mexican take-out and some beer and celebrated our first meal in our new place!

 

Will post more pictures later this week - am currently waiting for the Internet guy to call me!

Battleship New Jersey

The longest battleship in the world is retired and anchored on the New Jersey side of the river.  We went for a tour recently.  Unfortunately, we ended up on the "fire power tour."  Being a big fan of peace, I'm not really into guns - I just really wanted to see the kitchens and living quarters (how do you feed 2000 people at sea?), but it was very interesting and a lovely day to be by the water.

The New Jersey

Sleeping bunks - you can pay to stay over if you'd like...

A 24 hour clock



The view of Philadelphia from the ship

Rittenhouse Square

Rittenhouse Square is a beautiful park in the middle of the city (and the poshest address in town).  It is a lovely area - maybe someday we'll live here!

Are we in Paris???

Fabric Row

There is a Fabric Row in Philly!

It's not as good as Ottawa Street in Hamilton, but there are quite a few shops and lots of beautiful fabrics.  Most of the shops are really unorganized and packed, literally to the ceiling.

I'm thinking of this beautiful silk for curtains in the bedroom of our new apartment.

The question is, are we too young for toile???

Okay, not every day is great...

Today I...

got a rejection letter for a position that I was totally qualified for.

finally finished the quilt I have been hand quilting for five months, only to discover that the marking chalk does not wash out of all the fabrics - some yes, but some no.

drove all the way to Philly, only to have my first French class cancelled.  And, I was told I have a Canadian accent!

Thank goodness the Sex and the City movie is on to cheer me up.

Woo hooo!

Guess who's first in the National League East?  The Phillies!

More Labour Day Weekend

Valley Forge National Park is an important site from the Revolutionary War period and is located 20 miles from Philadelphia.  George Washington had his troops spend the winter in this area, and the park is now set-up with reconstructions of their shelters, the home that Washington stayed in and numerous monuments.  It also has great trails - we hiked the entire park and are looking forward to bringing vistors here for a picnic!

There were lots of deer everywhere!

Washington's headquarters

Labour Day Weekend

We went to a great exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art about the final decades of Renoir. 

Some pictures of the museum area (our new neighbourhood):

George Washington

Rocky Balboa

The Rocky steps

The view of the Benjamin Franklin parkway, with City Hall in the distance.

Driving

Driving here is a big adventure, especially in New Jersey.  All of the major roads are mini-highways, with three lanes of traffic each way.  Everyone flies by at 50 miles an hour, and the lanes start and end at random and with little warning.  Yesterday I just wanted to go to the dry cleaners - I got lost for 20 minutes, was honked at three times, yelled at and nearly caused an accident.  I could see the cleaners - I just couldn't figure out how to get there!  After all of that I had to recuperate by the pool...