Philadelphia PA

August 2009 - Philadelphia PA

While in Philadelphia for a few days in 2009, we stayed in a hotel right behind the Reading Terminal Market.

I was researching the history of the market and I loved this service mentioned on their site.

In later years, business flourished as suburban housewives began to take advantage of another aspect of the railroad’s involvement in the Market–a free market basket service on suburban trains. Under the system, the homeowner could arrange for her grocery order to be filled in the Market and the basket placed upon a train bound for her town and held at the station until she picked it up.

As soon as we checked in we headed out for a Philly cheese steak sandwich!!

Beiler’s is owned and operated by multiple generations of the same Pennsylvania Dutch family, using recipes and techniques that have been passed down for hundreds of years. Though the donuts draw the biggest crowds—especially on Saturdays, when the line often winds out the door and along the Arch Street side of the market—the barrel pickles and traditional PA Dutch puddings and salads at this stand are also worth the stop, all made with natural ingredients and served with a smile.

We went back on the Saturday and had breakfast.

Reading Terminal Market hosts the annual Pennsylvania Dutch Festival in August. The Festival features: homemade traditional foods, handmade crafts, cooking demonstrations, family entertainment, horse and carriage rides (Saturday only), and a farm animal petting zoo (Saturday only). The three-day festival also takes place in the Market’s Center Court seating area and features handmade crafts including quilts, woodcrafts, paintings, hand braided rugs, wooden toys, and cedar chests. Traditional foods including chicken pot-pie, donuts, ice cream, pies and canned fruits and vegetables are available.


On Saturday the festival moves outdoors to create an urban farm. The 1100 block of Arch Street is closed to traffic and a petting zoo with sheep, goats, chickens, donkeys, calves, horses and pigs fill the street. Amish buggy rides and horse drawn wagon rides around the Market, as well as country and bluegrass bands, round out the entertainment.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Finally finished this book, it is a big one. After the initial slow start I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next one in the trilogy.

The Millennium trilogy, of which The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the opening instalment, features a classic odd-couple duo: a crusading financial journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, and a freelance private investigator, Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist bears a more-than-passing resemblance to Larsson himself, whose work exposing racism and fascism made him particularly unpopular with his country's far right.

Book: Painter of Shanghai

Ijust finished this book. I enjoyed it even though I don't think the writing was as good as it could have been. I felt like I wasn't getting deep enough inside her head.

However most reviews were very positive.

When I finished it I realized it was a true story of a Chinese girl sold into prostitution who managed to escape that life by becoming the concubine of a good, educated man. She discovers she can paint and goes on to become one of the first truly modern artists in China. She is very famous for her nude paintings which were shocking for those times in China.

It also gave me an insight into the Cultural Revolution. I am now reading China Witness which relates true life stories of people who lived through it.