Freezing in Philly

I had booked an overnight in Philadelphia for this weekend - but had failed to check the weather forecast before I did so! We hadn't been yet, and everyone said how good it was. We were up bright and early, got packed, grabbed a couple of donuts and a coffee and hit the road. We didn't get terribly far before our first stop. We were driving over the Wilson bridge when I began urging Stephen to pull off at National Harbour. The Potomac river was completely frozen all the way across!! We HAD to stop and get photos. It was an incredible sight! I don't think I've ever seen that happen in the UK. I guess it just doesn't really get that cold there.

I spent the next leg of the journey trying to get my BlackBerry to send. It just wasn't working and I was having Crackberry withdrawal symptoms! Our SatNav took us off on a rather obscure route, so we didn't get to Philly until about lunchtime. We checked into the Loews hotel (very nice), bundled up and headed out for a spot of lunch before we started the serious sightseeing. We didn't have to go very far before I realised that I had made a serious error of judgement in not checking the weather forecast. It was minus 13C in Philly yesterday - add in windchill (and there was plenty of that I can tell you!) and it takes you to a temperature where bits of your body begin to fall off!!!

We walked along to the old State House (where they read/signed the Declaration of Independence), and dashed with joy into the building housing the Liberty Bell. By this time my thighs were frozen and I was kicking myself that I'd not picked up my second scarf. (I was wearing a vest, a t-shirt, a jumper, a jacket and a coat - and was bearably warm. I needed thermal long johns for the legs though!) We took our time walking round the exhibits in order to thaw out before we were ready to brave the cold again. I'm sure Philadelphia is a lovely city to walk around in summer - its not terribly big. But in arctic winter - we got taxi's! Next stop was the Philadelphia Art Museum - probably most famous as the steps that Rocky climbed up. There is a statue of Rocky at the bottom which is apparently always submerged in tourists. Not yesterday it wasn't! From there we walked back to the Rodin museum which was rather fabulous - and well heated! I was beginning to worry about Stephen as I've never seen his cheeks so pink. I was beginning to think that frostbite was only a little while away....

From there we cabbed it back to City Hall, which was a stunning building. I was on camera duty here and I could only manage to take about 4 photos at a time as I had to take my gloves off and my hands would be cold to the point of pain within a minute. It wasn't long after this that we sought sanctuary in the bar of the Hard Rock Cafe!!

When we got back to the hotel (which was directly across the street) we had to bathe Stephen's hands in warm water as he couldn't get them warm. This was definitely the coldest weather I have EVER experienced!!