Just across the street from the hotel in University City was a really terrific, Montreal-style bagel place called Smear’s, and block after block there were food trucks with food inspired by the cuisines of Vietnam and regions of the Middle East on offer.

The diversity of flavors, and the enthusiasm of vendors, all that made matters appetizing.  Even without eating, the pleasure of seeing good food, and watching the enjoyment of people eating, all that added a lot.

Like walking through Reading Terminal on Sunday: People lining up, laughing and talking, for what some call subs and others call hoagies, plates of fried chicken, pastrami, meatloaf, and so on.  This town loves meat.

But there is an abundance of other things.  Like Pearl’s Oyster Bar.  In NYC, now in Philly, this joint is killer.

Meanwhile, back home, it’s a homemade turkey cheeseburger, the latest episode of, “Homeland,” and a short walk for a brioche stuffed with salty, minced ham, leeks that were MIA, and some nondescript cheese that was also MIA, all for $5.50.  And this at “Boston’s best bakery.”  Puh-leeze.

Give me Philly, any day.

On a separate note: https://medium.com/@scotthaas/the-trump-diaries-3-6-17-8dcbc9747983#.3yip8z4vx