On Philly

From Chinatown in the North to (almost) the Italian Market in the South, the banks of the Schuylkill in the West to Penn’s Landing in the East, today has been a double-down, no holds barred dose of Philadelphia. Our quest for an apartment was defined largely by disappointment, frustration, and as the day wore on, by our two little toddlers-turned-demons’ wailing refrain, “I wanna go Phuppo (auntie’s) home!”  But unbeknownst to us, in between stumbling through former habitats of erudition-seeking wild animals (a.k.a. college students) and engaging in unexpectedly friendly and insightful conversations with pedestrians we accosted for the “inside scoop” on the neighborhoods, this scrappy, rough-around-the-edges city of brotherly love, started casting its spell over us, and we’ve fallen prey to its unassuming charm.