Simple Simon Says..: September 2011

I just got back from an IT Conference in Philadelphia and short holiday in NYC and sadly work has been piling up! No holiday is ever long enough.

Singapore to Philadelphia
Getting to Philly (as the native citizens for Philadelphia refer to themselves) was a breeze, though the journey was rather long - about 23 hours including a short stopover in Frankfurt.   We started our journey from Singapore on 12-Aug-2011 via SQ26 and arrived in New York JFK airport on 13-Aug-2011 at approximately 10.30am local time, about 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

I wished we could say the same for our bags arriving at the carousel. I have lost my Krisflyer Gold membership status and therefore bags no longer travel on 'Priority'.   By the time we got our bags and cleared customs, it was already 11.30am. We took a taxi to NY Penn Station and proceed to board the Amtrak train to Philly. Taxi fare cost USD 55.00 including tips. The cab driver had to stop about 30 metres from Penn station as the roads were blocked for some charity event.   We booked our tickets online and got the boarding passes from the self-service kiosks. Tickets cost USD 72 round-trip from NYC to PHL. The journey to Philadelphia 30St station was quite pleasant and comfortable.

	We were still dodgy after the long flight so we didn't do much exploring. Had dinner with my colleague Joseph (who's equally dodgy after a 32-hr journey) and then went about taking some night shots around City Hall followed by catching up on lost sleep. On the left is a picture of the Masonic Temple, located across City Hall.
Masonic temple at night

Reading Terminal Market and Macy’s (14 Aug 2011)
My ’networking’ session didn’t start until 6pm so we had some time to kill during the morning and afternoon. Our initial plan was to visit historic sites and chill out at parks. The weather had other plans - it was raining all day and we had to switch to a rather "indoorsy" plan B.

	Our day started with breakfast at the Reading Terminal Market, which is located about 5 minutes walk from our hotel (LOEWE'S PHILADELPHIA HOTEL). We had French toast for breakfast at Hershel's inside Reading Terminal Market. Personally, I prefer the French toast at Killiney's Kopi Tiam in Singapore, which is not as oily and comes with a generous spread of butter and kaya (coconut jam).
Reading Terminal Market
	The rain was still relentless and we decided to spend some time in Macy's (located along Market Street). It was a surprise to find a huge pipe organ inside a departmental store and I decided to take some pictures of it (with permission of course and as long as I promised not to climb into the enclosure). I never knew that the Wannamaker Organ is the largest operational pipe organ in the world!
The Wannamaker Pipe Organ
	After Macy’s, we proceeded towards Chinatown for lunch. It was still raining cats and dogs. Lunch was a simple meal consisting of noodles and stir fried vegetables at a Malaysian restaurant called Penang (Only two days and we"re already missing home food already). The food was good, though a tad salty. Before we knew it, it was already evening and time for me to get to my evening reception and "networking" session.
Lunch@Penang Restaurant