Last year, we celebrated love day in the big apple with an
NYC Valentine. The year before, we were in Boston. And this year we celebrated in
Philadelphia. It’s become an inadvertent tradition to celebrate
Valentine’s Day in a different city every year and this makes for one very happy love day. But this year in Philly was extra special because...
Philadelphia is the city where the 18 year versions
of ourselves met--had our first date--started dating just 2 weeks after that
first date--began this great love--kissed a teary goodbye at the airport 6
months later, not really knowing if we would ever see each other again, and then
finally returned 4 years later with Tom kidnapping me and bringing me to the
city to pull off the best proposal. And if you can believe it, we haven’t been
back since our engagement…until now.
We both took off Friday, flew in, and met up at the Philadelphia Airport. Friday night involved a very expensive very romantic dinner at the same restaurant where we had dinner the night Tom proposed. Then we spent Saturday at the wedding of sweet Ele. Like Tom and I, she and her fiancé were long distance while they both attended grad school so it was wonderful to spend Valentine's Day weekend witnessing such a strong love become a union. Then on Sunday, we had the day all for ourselves. It was a rainy one that we packed full of fun day dates to celebrate Valentine's Day.
First up for our rainy Sunday celebrations....visiting the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.
Can you believe that Tom and I never came here when we actually lived in Philadelphia? It's so easy to take things for granted when they are close by. 
Independence Hall...where the declaration of independence was signed
+ the meeting place of the first Supreme Court
After a rainy morning touring in out of the various buildings at Independence Hall, we headed to spend some time warming up indoors at the Mütter Medical Museum.
After the museum, we were starving and headed out to brunch at Cuba Libre. This place is an absolute must for the best meal and atmosphere. Also, cocktails are mandatory! I had the grilled pineapple mojito while Tom did the pineapple mimosa.
We shared dishes, starting with the crab guacamole with actual plantain chips. Also, shared a seafood soup and a cuban version of "chicken and waffles" with a quinoa waffle and mango maple syrup topping. Seriously amazing.
By the way, I think this food has me convinced we need to go Cuba. Surprised that Tom agrees. Ha! I guess the way to a man's heart really is through his stomach.
To walk off our lunch calories, we headed over to nearby Penn's View Landing Park. This is the spot where we had our first date 10 years ago, skating on the outdoor river rink. We had hopped to go ice skating again, but the pouring rain changed those plans. It was still fun strolling through the park, even if we did get soaked.
With time to spare, we squeezed in one last activity for our day date with heading to yet another museum...the Franklin Institute of Art because we cannot resist a good art museum.
Worth climbing up the Rocky stairs outside the museum to see this Monet inside
Oh just a causally hanging out with a Van Gough
If your a fan of the Vincent Sunflowers, it's wort it to see in person-the texture can't quite be captured in a photo
If your a fan of the Vincent Sunflowers, it's wort it to see in person-the texture can't quite be captured in a photo
We ended the day by sharing an Uber to the airport where we had dinner and waited at the gate to take our separate flights home. Between my connections and the long drive from the airport, it was 2AM by the time I made it back, which made for a very exhausting day in clinic on Monday. But it was so worth it. With being long distance, Tom and I have to work harder at craving out time together. And I'm so thankful for this weekend we had. It was filled with lots of rain, delicious meals, even better cocktails, catching up on sleep, museum-hopping, wedding dancing, and non-stop time together.
Happy Valentine's Day!
No comments:
Post a Comment