miss akay

Spontaneous fun-day!

These are always my favorite. You know... the days where you call up a friend, go out for lunch, run into two other friends, which then prompts a fifth to join up to spend an afternoon together. It started off as Stef and I wandered Rittenhouse and had food at Pietros. We ran into Naloosha and Todas, which helped motivate Ryan to join up. The requisite ruckus was created, as usual. Put Ryan on rollerblades and give him a pair of headphones and he is a party-on-the-move, making friends where ever he goes. Always a delight... laughing is good for the soul!

We ended up seeing the Lion King performance... totally unplanned, which made it all the more fun! I had never seen a show in Philly and got to check out the theatre avenue (or whatever they call it). After, we went to the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel to check out Nineteen, a great bar "to be seen at", on the 19th floor. The hotel has an interesting history:

In late July 1976, a mysterious illness began killing men who had attended an American Legion state convention in Philadelphia one week before. In all, 34 people who stayed or passed through the Bellevue Stratford Hotel when the U.S. veterans' organization met there were killed by the pneumonia-like disease, while another 221 others were sickened.

Panic set in, and state and federal authorities worked around the clock to find the cause of what became known as "Legionnaire's disease." Six months later, scientists had their answer: a bacterium they called Legionella pneumophila that thrives in hot-water systems and is spread through aerosolizing devices such as shower heads or air-conditioning vents. It is now known that legionella bacteria lurked somewhere within the hotel.

The views from up there were spectacular. It is a shame the balcony was closed, because it was also a gorgeous night out!

posted by miss akay @ 12:18 PM