day 75

we got off to a later start this morning since we stayed up late the night before but luckily we only had a short 40 mile ride to do today to get to Philadelphia. it was a weird route to get there but we made it. nothing to interesting to share, just riding. we rode through west philly before entering into the downtown and that place was a crazy part of town but i was very happy when we chatted at a stoplight with an older black man who was taken back by our journey. he brought a smile to my face. so we ride into the heart of philly and get to a bunch of big buildings and give pauline a call, the lady we're staying with on couchsurfing, and there was a mix up and we were still 10 streets away, ha. we rode through stoplights and were just amazed at the beauty of the city. we arrived at her apartment building, which was 2 streets down from independence hall and the liberty bell, and we got settled in. we chatted a bit and pauline is from france but here in philly working for a bit. she is so close to everything which is so great! all 3 of us then headed down to meet a friend of ours, sarah bechtold, who has been working in philly over the summer. north african grill was where we dined for dinner and it was fabulous, we had a great time just catching up with sarah and telling her of our adventure. pauline headed back home and the three of us walked all over downtown philly and found ourselves marveling at the fountains and beautiful sunset. i ran up the rocky steps (from the movie) and was singing the song out loud, but will do that again when we go to the art museum in a couple of days. it was just a great cool night for a walk and a good way to get an introduction to the city all the while reuniting with an old friend. we soon had to part ways with sarah and we saw her off at the subway station and then evan and i kept roaming the city. we eventually headed back to the apartment and crashed.