Memorial Day Weekend

We had a busy busy Memorial Day weekend! We had our friends Amber & Sean over for a BBQ! We made beef, shrimp, chicken and veggie kabobs! They were soooo yummy! We had fun catching up with them on the patio and breaking in the new patio table!

Sunday we went and met our friend Emily in "Old City" (Old City is the historical section of the city-the Liberty Bell, Mint, Independence Hall ect... are all in Old City) at Farmicia for brunch and then headed out to explore a bit. We came across a cemetery which was beautiful and Ben Franklin and his wife are buried there.

On Monday we went to the Eastern State Penitentiary-which was so so so cool. We had no idea we had our own Alcatraz a few miles from our house! Here is some brief history that we learned...

Opened in 1829 as part of a controversial movement to change the behavior of inmates through "confinement in solitude with labor," Eastern State Penitentiary quickly became one of the most expensive and most copied buildings in the young United States. It is estimated that more than 300 prisons worldwide are based on the Penitentiary's wagon-wheel, or "radial" floor plan.
Some of America's most notorious criminals were held in the Penitentiary's vaulted, sky-lit cells, including bank robber Willie Sutton and Al Capone. After 142 years of consecutive use, Eastern State Penitentiary was completely abandoned in 1971, and now stands, a lost world of crumbling cell blocks and empty guard towers.

We can't wait for visitors so we can go again!

After that we went to "Center City" (Center City is the center of the city-this is where Vince had his apartment while he lived downtown. It is an area where there are lots of shope, restaurants and bars. We had lunch at one of Vince's fav Italian restaurants and then did a little shopping and ended our day downtown at Scoop Deville-my fav ice cream place! When we got home Vince planted his tomatoes! Lets see how they grow in Philly soil!