Cubs - Phillies

The last full days of vacation found us taking in another baseball game, and of course it involved the Chicago Cubs. This was our first trip to Citizen Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies. A beautiful ballpark, and one of the best designed of the newer MLB fields.

This is the gate at third base. The glass enclosed room is a restaurant open before and after games with a large outdoor patio and live music. Upon entering and leaving the stadium, this area was full.

Colin was still a tad bit grumpy from not being able to take the train to the game. SEPTA does run within walking distance of the stadium, but the transfer point is in one of the lower income parts of town.

It was a warm and humid day. Our seats were the second row from the top of the stadium . As many of you remember Colin and I had seats in the top row at Wrigley earlier in the season and found the wind to be blowing quite hard. Today these seats provided necessary shade and an occasional breeze. Colin, as you can see is still toubled by the train and is quite warm.

This park has many advantages. One is a small playground on the top level. Colin was able to play on this slide and didn't have to wait in many lines or travel to a much larger play area on the stadium's lowest level.

Also, food was a plenty on this upper concourse. Many different options to choose from and lines moved along quicker than that of the National's park. Our seats may have been too high for the beer and water vendors as we didn't see many here, either.

And there was a stand for fans to purchase ticket for future Phillie games. Many of the lower level conveniences were also found in this uncommon area.

Colin did make it down the rather enormous shoe. Contrary to local lore, the shoe did not belong to Phillie first baseman, Ryan Howard.

A fan favorite is the Phillie Phanatic. Here he is seen riding around on his ATV prior to the start of the game after having some fun with those Chicago Cub players on the field.

The view from our seats. For being up so high, we could see almost every inch of the playing field.

And beyond center field is the Philadelphia Skyline. An electric replica of the Liberty Bell is seen off center here. It will light up when a Phillie hits a home run. On this day, it did not light up.

The crew that attended the day's game. Colin, Dana and me in the back with Heidi, Elizabeth and Julia in the front. The Cubs were victorius over the home town team.