New Year's in Philadelphia

New Year's Weekend (December 30 - January 1)

We decided to take the dreaded Chinatown Bus because it was the only bus available at the time slot we wanted and dropped us off walking distance to our hotel.  The bus was unorganized as usual and they put both Philadelphia and NYC riders on one bus. It got to be quite confusing but the bus got us to Philly in once piece and that's all that mattered.   These were taken via Iphone as we walked to the hotel.

We stayed at the revamped Club Quarters on Chestnut Street at the heart of the shopping district. Nice hotel but unfortunately we were in for a so-so experience. Turns out they had one elevator working the whole weekend and wait time was 5 minutes or longer. We ended up walking up 10 flights about three times. Yike!!  I got my exercise in.

Room was small but comfy

After settling in for a while, we were on the lookout for  a lunch spot so we wandered out and found a great little restaurant that was fully crowded called Tria, a wine bar that served great food.

We walked around for a while, went back to the hotel, changed and had dinner at another fabulous japanese restaurant called Shiroi Hana.  I was craving sushi and ended up having one roll but the main dish I had was the tenderloin beef wrapped in scallions and basted with the best teriyaki sauce ever. I had to take pictures because it was that good.  See the smiling face below.

New Year's Eve Day

We toured the city by taking the hop on hop off bus which is a great way to get the layout of any city. Saw many murals, historic sites, shops and restaurants. See below.

Hubby asked me if I wanted this apron for by birthday. Ummmm....I think not. Very funny honey.

Then it was back to hotel to get ready for the New Year's festivities at 80s alternative night. IPhones and drinking don't mix very well as seen by the blurry shots below.

We had an amazing time and the crowd was definitely over 35 so we weren't bombarded by the 20-something hipsters (not that anything is wrong with that :) and didn't feel out of place dancing.  Great night, great music, and great birthday as I became 40-something on New Year's Day.  Wow!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!! (I"m sure no one will read this because this post is so long).

We walked back to the hotel only to find out that the fire department was there. We didn't have a clue as to what was going and and we were exhausted from the walk so we went in to find out that the elevators weren't working so we had to climb 10 flights yet again.  Once we got ready for bed, audible fire alarm went off telling us to stay in our rooms, do not take elevators or stairs FOR FRIGGIN' 2 HOURS.  I managed to sleep through it after 15 minutes.

New Year's Day

Woke up, changed, got ready to meet Lori and Hubby for brunch at Bistro Park at Rittenhouse Square.  Great brunch but no photos.  We were planning to leave at 5:00 but realized we were so tired that we ended up taking the 3:30 train back home. I'm so glad we did because we crashed as soon as we got home.  

All in all, this was one of the best new year's ever.  May it be a good year for everyone.