We visited Dayantha in Philadelphia this Easter weekend. On Saturday morning, we left the house at 8 am to catch the subway to Penn Station. I didn’t realize it until we got there but Penn Station is just below Madison Square Garden. How cool! Anyway, the New Jersey Transit is a pretty economical way to travel. You can get a one-way ticket to Philly for $18.50 versus $45 on Amtrak. The ticket machines are very convenient and the trains are very punctual. The train seats are adequate but they seem to squish quite a few rows in each train car. Our train ride included quite a number of stops and we were a little delayed because we had to go a little slower for a disabled train up ahead. I didn’t think it would make much of a difference but I was wrong. When we arrived in Trenton, our next train was right in front of us but left without us. We got there too late. We literally missed it by a minute. As a result, we had to sit around in Trenton for another hour. *sigh*

We arrived in Philly at 1:33 pm and Dayantha was there to pick us up at the station. We went straight to Pat’s for some cheese steak sandwiches. There was a long line and Geno’s across the way had an equally long line. These people are really serious about their cheese steaks. The sandwich and fries were really tasty. We tried the cheeze whiz kind and one with provolone. I prefer the latter but we had to try the original whiz-style.

We later checked out Dayantha’s new loft. It’s really spacious and has a whole wall of windows that lets in a lot of natural light. Along with seeing Dayantha’s new home, we also met Christine for the first time. It sounds like they’ve been going out for a few months now. They seem pretty happy together.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is also known for the “Rocky steps” out front. And of course there were plenty of people running up the steps and punching the air. It’s quite silly if you ask me. The museum was actually pretty cool. There was a variety of exhibits including photographs and “art on paper”, arms and armory, and European Art (Matisse, Monet, Degas, etc).

Dinner was at Melograno, a small restaurant that allows you to BYOB. The food was great and the scene was fun and festive. The night ended at Fuji Mountain for some karaoke. What a day!