The Touristy Itinerary of H & V: When Plans Fail

Day seven. Almost everything did not go according to plan. Some deviations were okay, some were welcome, but some just made my stomach turn.

Breakfast. There was something going on in the area so majority of the breakfast places that we wanted to go to were closed. We ended up eating at Cafe Square One. I did not like the food, maybe they were having an off day? I don’t know. The coffee, at least, was decent. It made up for the unappetizing avocado toast I ordered.

Sightseeing. We were supposed to go see the Liberty Bell since it was literally just there. However, when we got there, we saw the very long line. I mean very very long. My friend and I were both like, “no way.” So we took the bus to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but not to go inside. That’s right. We walked up the flight of stairs that Rocky took.

Greyhound. The most horrible bus ride of my life. The ride to NYC was only a few hours. My friend and I really wanted to and needed to sit together so we can plan what to do once we arrived, but the only seats left that were next to each other was the one in the back, next to the bathroom. I couldn’t breathe properly the entire trip because the smell was just awful. Never again.

Subway. I forgot where the greyhound station was in New York. It was definitely underground, the subway right next door. Looking at the map, the subway system was vast and intricate, it was all very confusing and we would have easily gotten lost. There was this very nice gentleman though, he saw us looking at the map, probably saw the confusion in our faces, asked where we were going, gave us directions, and gave us his Metro card that had about $5 left. An act of kindness from a total stranger. There is hope left for the world. We went straight to our Airbnb in Brooklyn. It was a lot nicer than I expected, and very close to the subway.

Dinner. We had to eat early because one, we were both hungry since we only ate breakfast, and two, we had to meet up with this person because my friend bought something from Instagram, and had to pick it up (from a very specific location at a very specific time, I might add). We saw the flat iron building, and I thought to myself, “there are things I don’t really need to see in person.” But we were there, so there we were. We also got to see the Empire State building. That’s it.

Domino Park. Before we called it a night, we decided to go to a random place. So we went to the park. And the beautiful sight made up for everything that went wrong that day. The park was in Brooklyn, by River Street, overlooking the Williamsburg Bridge, and the lights from the sky scrapers across the river. The image was so inspiring it almost made me want to write a poem. Almost.

The Touristy Itinerary of H & V: DC to MD to PA

Take note, we were lugging around my friend’s two heavy suitcases for almost the entire day, so this was a feat we had to take.

DC to Baltimore

On our third day in DC, we woke up early to say goodbye to it. We went to Union Station to take the greyhound to Baltimore. It was an hour ride, at most. From the Baltimore downtown station, you could probably take a bus to the inner harbor, but because of the suitcases, we took a Lyft. Our first stop was Miss Shirley’s Cafe to have brunch. We chose an outdoor seating, and the ambiance and the food is amazing. Moderately priced, but definitely a very tasty meal.

Almost next door to it were the National Aquarium, Marine Mammal Pavilion, MECU Pavilion, but what really caught our eye was the (suggested by a friend) old power plant turned into a Barnes & Noble. We just had to go inside.

From there, we took the free bus towards Fells Point, got off the at the 2nd stop and walked around Harbor East while talking about boys, and secrets, and more boys. All the way, we walked towards Fells Point, never really reaching it. Our last stop was this alley between Kilwins and Fells Point Surf on Thames street, which by the way, is the cutest little area there is. Cobble stones lined the street with unique store fronts that managed to complement each other. I wished cars couldn’t pass nor park there. But who am I?

Baltimore to Philadelphia

With only a few hours to spare, we headed back to the Baltimore greyhound station, and from there took the bus to Philadelphia. The greyhound station was a straight 10-15 minutes walk to the Apple Hostels of Philadelphia. This is by far the best hostel I’ve ever stayed in, although it’s only my second so I really only had one other hostel to compare. Clean bathrooms, clean rooms, nice amenities, and very strategically located.

For dinner, we had cheese steak, obviously. Now I don’t remember where we had it, but it’s on the menu on almost all of the restaurants, so I’m sure you’re not going to miss it. To top the night off, we wandered around Philadelphia until we reached a park. Again, I don’t remember what it’s called but it’s probably the Spruce Street Harbor Park since it’s the only park I see on the map that’s in the vicinity. Not unless we wandered too far, but I doubt it.

The park was very nice. There were various shops to buy food and drinks from. There was an area where you literally hang on a net of some sort, maximum capacity of three or four per net I believe, although majority of the nets were occupied by couples gazing lovingly at the stars and whispering sweet nothings to each other. Ugh. There were also a lot of hammocks on the trees in the park. They’re big enough to fit two, so we stayed there and talked our ears off. Quite frankly though, I don’t know how the other people were lounging so comfortably when my friend and I were having the worst time climbing in.