Finishing off our Saturday in Philadelphia with Pizza, a Prison and Broccoli

Our Saturday in Philadelphia was super jammed pack with activities.  After the Masonic Temple, we left the boys behind because they had to be responsible and do school stuff.  We went straight to Pizza Brain and ate slices that were as big as our head as demonstrated by Jenica.

We were all starving at this point and ate these giant slices with no problems.

A closer view of the Forbes Waggensense slice with mozzarella, fontina, grana padano, fresh basil, and smoked pepperoni and the Charlie Mayfer slice with mozzarella, sweet potato, honey crisp apple, honey goat cheese, brown sugar, pecan, pie spice.  Both were amazing and the Charlie was like a pizza dessert.

Pizza Brain has photos of special moments in pizza history and a Little Baby's Ice Cream in the back which makes this place dairy heaven.

Obviously after pizza, we traveled to Eastern State Penitentiary which is pretty centrally located in the city.  It makes me wonder how far outside of the city it was when it was being built in 1821.  It closed down as a prison in the 1970s and opened to the public pretty recently.  It is incredible to learn about how the place believed in solitary confinement where the prisoners would not see other prisoners during their confinement and only occasionally the guards.  This changed when the prison ran out of space but it's incredible how much study has gone into how much this contributes to mental problems.  It reconfirms that the US prison system really does not believe in rehabilitation.

A very apropos gargoyle outside the prison walls.

What a single cell looked like in that time period and how it looks now.

Some of the areas are too run down to walk through but you can look through the gates to get an idea.

Al Capone was in prison here for a few years starting in 1929.  You can see how money can help make your time in prison a much more comfortable experience. 

I walked around the city before dinner and was really excited to see this sign.

I made reservations for the best restaurant in the city as voted by the Philadelphia Magazine.  Unfortunately, it was a late one and poor Debbie was pretty much done with the day. I think all of us were pretty tired after our active day but I did document the broccoli dish that both Jenica and I loved.

I can't remember what was served with it but it made me so happy.  And the pork belly was incredible.  Neither dishes are on the online menu and I can't remember all of the components but they were both delicious.

We headed back to the hotel after dinner and crashed.