My Philadelphia trip was one and a half day (two nights) but it was still worth it. When I travel, I do extensive searches and planning beforehand, especially, if it is going to be only for a few-day trip. First, I search for the places I would like to see or worth to see. I google ‘Things to do’ and ‘Things to see’ and decide which ones I would like to do. I look at TripAdvisor, that city’s official website and personal blogs. TripAdvisor usually helps me with walking tour ideas and places to see. Then I google ‘where to eat’, ‘GF cafe or restaurants’, ‘coffee houses/cafe’, ‘Whole Foods’, ‘organic food’ and ‘European bakeries’ . Everything that I am interested in or need. Then, I save the ones that I like on the Google Map, as you will see below.. I prepare a route for me for things to do and places to eat. Lastly, I find a place to stay which is convenient, and as much central as it can be based on my other searches.

I did all these above mentioned searches and planning. So far I am very happy with all the choices. Well, most important thing is the hotel. If that is good, the rest like GF bakeries, cafe or restaurants etc are new experiences and it is ok if we do not like them. That is why I always have Whole Foods as a back up plan. If the restaurants are really expensive or if we can not find a place we’d like to eat, Whole Foods is life saver.

The highlight for me of this visit was the City Hall. I could not get enough of its architecture. I have taken its photos from different angles, streets and all the details were amazing. My pictures will surely do no justice. I am not sure why this building mesmerized me during day or night time, but it was great!

First night, we walked around the City Hall. There were great light shows (see picture below), music, ice skating ring, food & drink places. As you can see on the map, it was only 5-10 minute walk from our hotel, Roost Midtown. On the map, the hearts are where we had chance to go, flags are where I wanted to go but did not have time to do so.

We had breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien, one of my favorite places. I’ve been to the ones in Istanbul, New York & Washington. All three except New York experiences were great. The one in New York had small tables, and bad service.

I wanted to try P.S.& Co. which was an organic, plant-based, gluten free and vegan cafe. We bought 2 desserts and coffees. They were really close to cakes that were made with real dairy and regular flour. The tables inside were not in use, so we sat outside. The weather was nice, lucky us, so it was refreshing.

All day was museums & a Basilica day. It was a great day to walk. Whole Foods’ location was great for convenience too. We saw Christmas Village. We could not finish Museum of Arts, so on next morning, we went again (and still could not finish). We saw Rocky’s steps and statue, of course, a classic trip moment. :)

Before we leave Philadelphia, we stopped by the La Colombe Coffee Roasters. Oh my God, their coffee, well cappuccino, was soo delicious, creamy, just the way I like it. We also got an almond croissant to share (with my hubby) and again it was soo delicious, I got the second one. It had a really smooth, tasty but not overwhelming almond paste kind of thing in it. It was nothing like marzipan. I do not like marzipan.

Few days before our Philadelphia trip, I totally forgot about it and I did my weekly grocery shopping. So I decided to cook them and bring my food to this trip. That is why, I looked for a hotel that has a full kitchen. But I also wanted it to be in the center of our walking/sightseeing route for convenience, because parking is always a problem in big cities.

Considering all the factors, I decided (after my hubby’s ok) on the ROOST MIDTOWN hotel and we loved it because of the high ceilings, new, clean, full kitchen, Washer & Dryer, stylish, offers complimentary filtered water and sparkling water (station on R5 floor), lending book library and great location. You can get a little more information from this link that I found. When I read this article, I was even more impressed. It tells about the cofounder/CEO Randall Cook, the designer and the furniture/interiors of the 2 locations but actually there are 3 locations : Roost Midtown, Rittenhouse and East Market. According to their website there will be other Roosts in Detroit, Cleveland and Tampa.

ohh, by the way, I also loved the Coffee Bundle kit in the kitchen. And guess what, the coffee beans they provided in the kit was from La Colombe. So I got to enjoy the creamy, tasty coffee at home for a few more days. ( I did not take the jar, just the beans with me, by the way. )

Now, I was going to share all the wonderful pictures that I have taken in Philadelphia but guess what? My storage card gave an error (God knows why and how)and I lost all the pictures 😢. We could not retrieve them. I found 2 pictures from my husbands phone. Well, now I have a reason to go back there again, I guess, right? 😊