There had to be a Mall Day

There had to be a mall day. No trip to the USA is complete without a trip to at least one Mall.

We've been getting up a little late, but the hard work of sightseeing is beginning to take its toll. You can't burn the candle at both ends, and put in a full days sightseeing, walking etc, without eventually crashing. And our accommodation is so comfortable here, it's hard to wake up.

We're sleeping in the basement, which is nicer than it sounds. In America, people often have very useful rooms in their basements. Even a bar and home cinema!  So the beds in the basement are very comfortable, and it's so lovely and dark down there, that our body clocks can't quite work out where we should be, but we're very tired. We've not quite switched to East Coast time, but we're doing pretty well. 

So after breakfast and everyone was up, (it is Saturday after all) we made a plan of what to do with our remaining hours left Stateside. 

First was a trip around the block, there was a yard sale happening in the estate. So of course we had to take a look. 

Another essential part of a holiday in this part of the US is a trip to the farmers market. 

It's got all kinds of things, far more than you'd imagine. There is food. But there are also furniture shops, fabric shops, second hand shops, a pet shop with puppies and kittens. 

I bought some fabric for my next quilting project, I already know what I want to do next, but I'm busy with a  New York / Americana themed bed runner for myself. It's something I've wanted to buy for a while, plus I wanted a small manageable quilting project. It's coming along quite well, but it's all hand sewing, so it's taking me a while. 

We picked up some groceries, and after a good rummage, we were hungry. There's a diner near the Farmer's Market, somewhere I'd not been before, and it was really quite authentic. Just what you imagine from the movies. A mixture of movie posters, local maps and photos of local sports teams on the wall, it had a very real American feel to it. 

I'm not sure how to define what I mean by real America, but I'll try. 

I mean a mixture of the idealistic view we get from the movies, and of the things that really do happen. There's a certain moment of realisation that what we see idealised in film is in fact drawn on reality. The American dream exists.  

There are so many things about America that we fail to perceive through media that can only be realised through living there, visiting family and friends who live there, and truly engaging with the people. That is real America for me. 

We drove to Cristiana, Delaware, to the big mall with the Apple Store. My objective was to buy an iPad mini, tax free of course in Delaware. 

Mission accomplished, we had a quick scoot around a couple of other shops and soon it was time to head back, unpack our shopping and repack our cases. 

We had a lovely tea of salad and last night's pizza. Pizzas here are huge remember, 3 pizzas fed 6 of us last night, and some of it fed us all again, accompanied with some salad and potato salad and home grown cherry tomatoes.  

Soon it was time to leave, say our goodbyes, and be on our way to the airport. 

It's Goodbye to Philly again, but I'm already looking forward to the next time!