Outer Banks - Day 2

June 5, 2015

We stayed right downtown at the Warwick Hotel at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia.  I got up early the next morning in search of breakfast, which I found at a French patisserie near our hotel.

It was a dreary and foggy day in the city.  We walked around and saw the downtown sites. 

We couldn't pass up photos at the LOVE sculpture.

Ada helped us out by taking this one.

There was a bit of a line to see the Liberty Bell.  Mostly Asians.

Independence Hall.

We didn't take a tour of Independence Hall, but instead we made our way to the Max Brenner Chocolate Bar for lunch. Kate was in heaven. A crepe, ice cream, gummy bears and a chocolate sauce for lunch.

Ada wasn't complaining either.

I had real food for lunch which was pretty good.

Alison went with a dessert plate.

After lunch we checked out of the hotel and made our way to the Please Touch Museum at Memorial Hall.  This is a children's museum that is housed in an extraordinary old building, the last major building remaining from the 1876 Centennial Exhibition.

We spent most of the afternoon at the museum. The girls played house and store, shot rockets, watched a play, went through a maze, painted as well as other activities.

After the Please Touch Museum we hopped on I-95 and headed north to NYC.  Our first stop in NYC was at Times Square, where we made ourselves visible on one of the billboards (You can just see Alison's right arm raised in the top left corner of the photo.  She's wearing a yellow jacket).

Times Square.

We stayed in the New Yorker Hotel, which has a pretty incredible history.  It was opened in 1930, it had 2,500 rooms, its own radio station and DC power plant, as well as all of the other fanciest amenities that could be imagined at the time. And overnight valet parking for our rental car was only $80/night.  Ouch.

Next we visit the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and make our way to the Belmont Stakes.