Spooky!
Friday was also my first experience with Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary. The whole evening turned out to be quite an adventure. I got to Frank's around 7 and we wandered out to find dinner. We headed toward Copa, but when we got there Copa was not. It had been transformed into Jose Pistolitos, but we decided to give it a shot.
The 4 item menu had the typical Mexican fair: burrito, taco...grouper gordita. Small menus turn out to be harder to order from than large ones, who knew? I decided to put food selection on hold and turned my attention to the extensive beer list. Our waitress came over and we both ordered a Corona...which she told us they didn't have as she scratched the name off the list (no XX either, odd for the type of bar). Frank ordered an ice tea and was informed they didn't have that either, just bar drinks. He ended up with a screw driver, I got a German beer and the woman left us to ponder the food situation.
All in all it wasn't horrible, but I can't say I'd want to go back. Frank seemed fine with his veggie burrito and my sopes was okay but nothing to rave about. The waitress...didn't bring her A game and that's all I'm going to say. Anyhow, over dinner we talked about the friends of his I'd be meeting. They knew each other in high school and he hadn't seen them in a while. I assured him as long as there were no death threats the evening would be fun.
We wandered back to the apartment to where we met his friends N, J, K, C and E. I thought it odd that C seemed to be leaning heavily on E, but thought she may have turned an ankle on the uneven pavement. As we got closer C seemed to be ill actually, but when asked we were told not to worry about it. N told me it had been too long since she'd seen me, which was interesting since I'd never met her. There was some embarrassed laughter at that one and then we started to walk the few blocks to the prison.
As we walked C got slower and didn't want to go. K told us she was drunk and N insisted she would go to the prison since we had tickets. Frank commented he'd never seen someone dragged drunk to an event and didn't think they'd let her in. As the walk progressed C got worse and an attempt to carry her was made by E, but she was having none of it. N called C's husband to meet us and take her home. Now it was taking 2 people to hold C up, so I took a turn and was soon on my butt on the pavement along with C. Legs got tangled but there seemed to be no damage. C sat on the curb for a bit, then it started to rain. There was an attempt to get her into a cab, but no cab is going to take a drunk girl anywhere without a sober buddy, so that was aborted.
Convinced we weren't going to make it to the prison we managed to find shelter under an over hang where we waited for C's husband. Though I can't say I enjoyed being wet and cold, there are worse places to be than in warm arms, so I couldn't really complain. Frank was doing his best not to be annoyed, and finally C's husband arrived, she was piled in the car and whisked away. N and E then took off like women possessed toward the prison, leaving J, K, Frank and me to bring up the rear. There was a little frustrated comedy involving a bathroom stop, but we did make it in time to stand in line for the 11 PM tour (a little after 11:30).
I will not say that Eastern State is scary, but I did a lot of yipping and clutching and did let out a full on scream at least once. It was very tense and things had a habit of jumping out at you, the actors did a really good job. While keeping a death grip on Frank's arm I made the poor boy go around every corner first. He was an excellent escort, and was even molested by a wall at one point. We did see his friend Anand, a scary zombie turned cute once I knew who it was. I was exhausted when we finally came to the end of the tour, glad I did it but not needing to do it again. I would like to do the historical day tour though. It is a neat structure.
The walk home was slow, we left the girls at their parking lot and went for coffee. Soon enough I was ready to sleep in my cup so we made our way home by 3 AM and passed out.
Eventful...
The 4 item menu had the typical Mexican fair: burrito, taco...grouper gordita. Small menus turn out to be harder to order from than large ones, who knew? I decided to put food selection on hold and turned my attention to the extensive beer list. Our waitress came over and we both ordered a Corona...which she told us they didn't have as she scratched the name off the list (no XX either, odd for the type of bar). Frank ordered an ice tea and was informed they didn't have that either, just bar drinks. He ended up with a screw driver, I got a German beer and the woman left us to ponder the food situation.
All in all it wasn't horrible, but I can't say I'd want to go back. Frank seemed fine with his veggie burrito and my sopes was okay but nothing to rave about. The waitress...didn't bring her A game and that's all I'm going to say. Anyhow, over dinner we talked about the friends of his I'd be meeting. They knew each other in high school and he hadn't seen them in a while. I assured him as long as there were no death threats the evening would be fun.
We wandered back to the apartment to where we met his friends N, J, K, C and E. I thought it odd that C seemed to be leaning heavily on E, but thought she may have turned an ankle on the uneven pavement. As we got closer C seemed to be ill actually, but when asked we were told not to worry about it. N told me it had been too long since she'd seen me, which was interesting since I'd never met her. There was some embarrassed laughter at that one and then we started to walk the few blocks to the prison.
As we walked C got slower and didn't want to go. K told us she was drunk and N insisted she would go to the prison since we had tickets. Frank commented he'd never seen someone dragged drunk to an event and didn't think they'd let her in. As the walk progressed C got worse and an attempt to carry her was made by E, but she was having none of it. N called C's husband to meet us and take her home. Now it was taking 2 people to hold C up, so I took a turn and was soon on my butt on the pavement along with C. Legs got tangled but there seemed to be no damage. C sat on the curb for a bit, then it started to rain. There was an attempt to get her into a cab, but no cab is going to take a drunk girl anywhere without a sober buddy, so that was aborted.
Convinced we weren't going to make it to the prison we managed to find shelter under an over hang where we waited for C's husband. Though I can't say I enjoyed being wet and cold, there are worse places to be than in warm arms, so I couldn't really complain. Frank was doing his best not to be annoyed, and finally C's husband arrived, she was piled in the car and whisked away. N and E then took off like women possessed toward the prison, leaving J, K, Frank and me to bring up the rear. There was a little frustrated comedy involving a bathroom stop, but we did make it in time to stand in line for the 11 PM tour (a little after 11:30).
I will not say that Eastern State is scary, but I did a lot of yipping and clutching and did let out a full on scream at least once. It was very tense and things had a habit of jumping out at you, the actors did a really good job. While keeping a death grip on Frank's arm I made the poor boy go around every corner first. He was an excellent escort, and was even molested by a wall at one point. We did see his friend Anand, a scary zombie turned cute once I knew who it was. I was exhausted when we finally came to the end of the tour, glad I did it but not needing to do it again. I would like to do the historical day tour though. It is a neat structure.
The walk home was slow, we left the girls at their parking lot and went for coffee. Soon enough I was ready to sleep in my cup so we made our way home by 3 AM and passed out.
Eventful...
posted by Liz @ 1:54 PM
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