First night in Philly

Here is the view out the window of my room tonight:

The brightest building in the center of the photo is City Hall. 

The trip was very easy.  I am safe in my room.  I have to admit that I tried the Bourbon Bar and it turned out fun because I sat at the bar beside a couple .... a tennis player who plays a bit of golf with his wife because they both admit that they can't play tennis together and stay married.  They were either honestly interested in genealogy or pretended to be out of just being nice.  I tried comparing a Buffalo Trace bourbon and the Elijah Craig bourbon.  Perhaps the Elijah Craig is a bit smoother, but they were very similar.  I doubt that I could tell the difference if I had been blindfolded.  Anyone have any suggestions on other bourbons I might compare for the next few nights?

When I checked in the bellman was exceptionally helpful telling me the stories of the building that houses my hotel.  He explained that the hotel building was in the 1930's the highest skyscraper in the nation:
Soaring 33 stories into the air, our Loews Philadelphia Hotel is a genuine landmark. In fact, this 1930s structure was the nation’s first skyscraper.
And that the elevators on one side of the lobby were the first automated elevators .....sounding the doom for the elevator operators of the world.


The concierge suggested a plan for me this morning.  I like it and will probably give it a try unless the predicted snow shuts down the historical sites early.   He suggested walking to the liberty bell, independence hall,  National Constitution Center, Arch Street Meeting House and then taking a taxi home from there if I have had enough walking and standing on my feet.  All of them except for the Arch Street MM are quite close together and only 6 or 8 blocks away.  I will put on all my warm clothes.

So here is William Penn on the top of the "steeple" taken from my window in the morning:

I am adding a note much later:  June 2015.  I sat on the patio with Chris Curry and John O'Dell.  We were talking about bourbons and I said that when I got home from this trip, I bought one of the Bourbons that I had tasted.  But I couldn't come up with which one.  I looked when I got home tonight.  It was the Basil Hayden.  It is a very easy to drink Bourbon....some of the reviews call it light.  It has rye mixed into the corn mixture.

Wikipedia says:

Basil Hayden's is the lightest bodied bourbon whiskey in the family of Jim Beam small batch bourbons produced by Beam Suntory. It is 80 proof, in contrast with its three sibling brands of higher alcohol concentration (Knob Creek, Booker's, and Baker's).   Beam Suntory is now owned by a Japanese Company.  The bourbons that are actually produced by Jim Beam descendents are Elijah Craig and Evan William which are bourbons produced by Heaven Hill by Beam master distillers (cousins to Jim Beam).  This distillery is still a family owned business owned by the Shapiro family.