A couple of weeks ago my old and I mean OLD… friends Edd and Tasha visited from London for 8 days. They are our first non family visitors from the UK.
I went to University with them both in Manchester 94 – 97 ouch…. And actually went to college with Tasha before that 92 – 94 phew…… Needless to say they are good friends who have stayed in touch all these years.
It was nice to hear from them a few months ago that they fancied a trip over for their summer hols and decided a trip to Philly with a stay in New York was just the ticket ! Seemed like a great plan and it was.
I convinced them to fly into Philly as JFK New York is a nightmare and we met them at the airport and proceeded to show them the sights and sounds of Philadelphia and surrounding Pennsylvania.
Activities included a few historical sights in Philly, educating the Brits on how they lost this great nation and a nice jaunt up the Rocky Steps at the Philly Museum of Art, I knew it that Edd and Sly Stallone were separated at birth ! - see below film,
Also we took them Amish spotting in Lancaster County, about an hour from Philly. It’s lots of fun as its like being in a different country. Harry loved the area and the main town called….. wait for it…. INTERCOURSE !! Edd made sure he got a copy of the local newspaper named ‘Intercourse News’ (not kidding).
There is some farm animals there which we enjoyed petting, Harry also had to spend some time minding the tree house which watched over them.
Harry
After that we all went to New York for a couple of nights and then left them there for a further two nights. New York was a lot of fun and is as always hectic, crazy and busier than ever. It seems that now because it’s safe everyone has moved there or is visiting.
It took us two hours just to get on the ferry to Liberty and Ellis Island. This was something that me and Harry had not done before so was fun to spend a day being total tourists. Barbara knew better and stayed in the hotel room working. Actually it’s one of those things that has to be done once, and the Ellis island building is very fab. I particularly enjoyed watching Tasha reject Edd’s immigration application at one of the desks in the great hall that was used, he is too London/Cockney/Southener for this place! see below;
Taking liberties again !
It was nice to visit some good foody places that New York is great for and having Barbara and our friend Scott who came out for a night with us made it easy to do the risk free restaurant thing.
Other sights included Brooklyn Bridge (a must), Times Square and after leaving them in NYC, they did the local knowledge thing and went up the Rockerfeller building and not the Empire State (queue nightmare). As you can see from the piccies it was the correct choice, you can see central park and the Empire State only from there.
They also caught Mama Mia on Broadway and a boat trip around Manhattan, then got on a ‘Megabus’ back to Philly where it was raining and felt like being back in Britain !
Our last day was spent mooching around our local neighborhood having one of those huge American breakfasts and taking them for a nice walk in a local wooded park where we have these awesome covered bridges, although if you get caught short maybe the portable toilet is not such a good idea !
Stop watching the Olympics Harry !
such a pleasant experience.....
Big thanks to them for a lovely visit and big thanks to family Brighton for pulling it all off !
Until the next visit from distant friends ! C’mon don’t be scared we won’t leave you with the Amish, honest….. he he
