Philadelphia Road Trip, Part III

Our main purpose for the trip was to find an apartment for Vogel. Kind of an overwhelming task, but I felt we were up to the challenge. She ended up settling on a cool place pretty early on, a two bedroom in Chestnut Hill. Her neighborhood is so awesome--I am completely jealous. I took lots of pictures of the inside of the apartment (and the other places we looked at), but since the current tenants were still living there, their stuff is in all of the pictures and it would feel kind of creepy to post them. I will post just a few pictures from that day, though.


The outside of the apartment. There are two units in the building, one on the top floor and one in the middle. The bottom level has the laundry room and the garages. The houses all around the building are gorgeous--big old stone houses with eaves and nooks poking out all around. Again, I am super jealous.


It's worth noting that in the wikipedia entry I've linked to above, the first word used to describe Chestnut Hill is "affluent." That's the truth! Vogel will be in easy walking distance to pedestrian-friendly streets filled with shops and restaurants. There's even a cable car that still occasionally rides up and down the road. You can see it in the distance here.


In fact, the area is so ritzy, the McDonald's looks like a castle! (Are we sensing a castle theme?) I actually think the castle look makes a bit of sense, since there are so many gorgeous stone houses in the area. It still made me laugh, though. (On Long Island, in certain areas like this, they also have non-conventional looking McDonald's restaurants. Usually, they are the results of zoning laws and such.)

After looking at the first couple of places, Vogel was a bit overwhelmed, so we stopped for lunch at a place my handy GPS helped us find: Bruno's. Very yummy food. And a good lunch sometimes brings clarity. Well, that and a pro-con list made by your friend Heidi. By the time we were done, she was more or less settled on that first apartment.


While we loved Bruno's, Vogel was a bit offended by this sandwich selection. I just thought it was funny. I am also an awful person. (Apparently, this name for this kind of sandwich is common in the area, as we saw it on another menu the next day. Both of us--native New Yorkers--were unfamiliar with the name.)

All in all, it was a great trip and good results. I can't wait to visit her when she gets all settled into her new place.