Sorry for delay, been away for the past day or two.
So, to continue. Cleopatra exhibition was excellent, very well put together, with a surprising number of really fine pieces on display. We left there and headed back to the trolley bus for another stop - an ice cream place which the kids had spotted on a TV programme (Man vs Food, a really gross programme on Sky where some guy stuffs himself with huge portions). Had some mega banana splits, chocolate sundaes etc, which were very welcome. I don't know if I mentioned temperature, but it was hot, 94 or 95 and the heat index was 110 (according to the news in the morning). It made the day really quite exhausting, it was hard to escape the heat
Final trip on the trolley bus back to the Independence Centre where we then caught another two of the dreadful cabs back to the hotel. By this stage we were all fairly tired and we spent some time arguing about where to go for dinner. As we couldn't agree on a restaurant and honestly couldn't face another cab journey, we decided to eat in the hotel restaurant, Lacroix. The hotel had given us $200 towards a meal there, so it seemed silly not to use it (I should have smelt a rat at this stage).
Here's the media blurb for Lacroix, taken from the website:
Award-Winning Dining, Considered Among The Finest In The World
Experience the restaurant considered Philadelphia's most exquisite addition in more than a decade, which has truly earned a position among the world's premier dining settings. Voted "Best New Restaurant in the United States" by Esquire Magazine in 2003, Lacroix at The Rittenhouse has been attracting international acclaim ever since with its unique combination of stylish atmosphere, and fresh local ingredients. Just a few of our most momentous achievements include:
Zagat Survey (2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007)
Mobile 4 Stars (2007)
Five-Star Award - American Academy of Hospitality Sciences (2005 & 2006)
World's Best - Conde Nast Restaurant Hot List (2004)
The World's Best Hotel Dining Rooms - Gourmet Magazine (2004)
Best New Restaurant of the Year - Esquire Magazine (2003)
There is nothing I like more than a really good restaurant, and having read the write up we figured it was worth a go, given that it was actually in our hotel and we could fall back into bed immediately afterwards, so off we went.
I don't know what the general opinion here is about fine dining in the US. I enjoy the usual American fare as much as anyone, and the US is great for steaks, fast food, comfort food, particularly good for deli stuff etc, but as far as fine dining goes, forget it. They haven't a clue. Either the restaurant critics are gullible fools or they've never eaten in Europe.
We had a decent but very disappointing meal, given the write up. I can do way better myself at home, and this place would last about two weeks in London. We had a great time, regardless - we try to pick a couple of conversation topics at the start of a family evening dinner and thrash them out over a couple of hours. Tonight's main topic was accents (Alison and I are stuck with our original Belfast ones which won't go away, despite us having completely assimilated to English life years ago) and their effect on the listener. The only real area of disagreement was the suitable punishment for those who pronounce the letter 'h' as 'haitch' (really sorry if I'm offending anyone), and how to deal with the teachers who mispronounce this but refuse to be recognise they've got it wrong. I'm really pleased that my children share my prejudices.
Despite the lacklustre quality, the restaurant certainly knew how to charge, and they did it with a special gusto which almost took our breath away. The boys had steaks, Annabel had a burger, I had sea bass and I can't remember what Alison had. One bottle of wine, a couple of martinis and a couple of deserts - the $200 from the hotel came to less than a third of the total. The conversation topic changed abruptly when the bill arrived. I needed another drink to get over the shock.
We were heading off
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