Back to the Beginning

Our first day out with our tour guide.

 With my studies out of the way, a little bit of back-blogging is in order. ;)  As most of you know, Emily and I were in the States from the end of June through mid-July.  Angelines and a friend's daughter were there for the first two weeks and then Em and I were on our own for about ten days.

Our trip was mostly family oriented.  Having a baby means there are a lot of people who want to see "us" (really her).  Not that I mind.  I am of course, the number one fan of showing off my most adorable daughter. :)

However, we did begin our trip with some (mostly) pure tourism--Philadelphia.  I say "mostly" because, of course, although Independance Hall and the Liberty Bell are alluring attractions, my dear friend, Miriam is, much more so.  Our plan was to visit Miss M. and make a more gradual adjustment to the time difference.  As it turns out, thinking that a stop on the East Coast would lessen our jet-lag was a huge error; we managed to extend it by at least three or four days.  Travelling with a baby means jet-lag like no other.  Adults will lie in bed in a half-sleep until a semi-decent hour to get up...but Emily was up and babbling at 8am Spain time: 3:00am Eastern Standard.

All of this means we ended our days in the nation's first capital completely wiped out by 6pm.  Still, we were able to see some of the city and of course Miriam's company was enjoyed to it's fullest.  And although things got off to a rough start--our friend's daughter lost her bag!--we did manage to see the most important emblems of the city, visit a ship festival on the Delaware river, enjoy an Israli dinner, eat fresh-baked bagels and stroll along the Schuylkill waterfront.

It was a brief visit, but we enjoyed as much as sleep deprivation would allow.  After just three days we said our good byes and headed West.

Can you tell her dress is red, white and blue for her visit to Independance Hall?

Liberty Bell and Independance Hall in the background.