July 12 -- transfer to Philadelphia

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The American Contract Bridge League's summer national tournament was in Philadelphia this year.  We went to national bridge tournaments all the time when our kid was little and portable (not so much, when she was in high school!), and now that she's big and able/willing to dog sit, perhaps we'll be going to them more often, again.

Here we are Philadelphia bound! 

Amazing how that much heft can be lifted up from the ground so quickly!

Given how far behind we were/are on rain, I was surprised to see everything looking so green.

The Detroit River, emptying into Lake Erie on the right.

Detroit Metro airport.

Of course I looked at clouds.....

In the course of arranging everything, we discovered that it cost about half as much to fly to Baltimore (BWI) and then take Amtrak to Philadelphia as it would have cost to fly directly to Philadelphia.

Here we are, waiting at the BWI Amtrak station for our train.

It was interesting that the station appeared to be in the middle of the woods.

My suitcase....

Another passenger.  I like her round green suitcase, but was glad to have my bigger bag, with wheels.  And you know I was wearing my black jeans and my tennies.

There were many blurry trees, twixt BWI and Phildelphia.  Also many depressed-looking dwellings (not photographed).

We found my better half's favorite Ann Arbor bridge partner (whose wife, playing with her regular bridge partner, had won a trip to Philly).  She was playing; he came out to dinner with us.  We ate at a very decent Chinese place.

Chinatown is pretty much on top of the Convention Center.  Some of the bridge play was in the Convention Center, but most of it was in the Marriott which is connected to the Convention Center.

I didn't notice this woman when I took the prev. pic, but when I got the image above on the "big screen," I couldn't fail to see her.  Here is someone whose sartorial sense I can identify with!

Some of the buildings in Chinatown were plain, but some were fancy.

Here's a closer view of the gate -- definitely fancy!

Here's part of the view from our hotel room, with nice pink clouds.   We had an unobstructed view to the north.

The set of rounded roofs at the bottom is the Convention Center, and the higher rounded roof in the bottom right corner is the Reading Terminal Market.  Light rail still uses it as a terminal, and there is a big food market, with produce and prepared foods of all kinds, both to take home and to eat there.  An excellent resource for the downtown visitor......

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