I love Philly! Chris and I took a day trip down there and walked all around and saw a lot of the city. We got a little lost looking for the bus in Chinatown- that area under the Manhattan bridge where all the streets go crazy- but we made it on there and had a nice 2 hour bus ride. From the time we stepped off the bus until getting back on the bus at 9 pm, we walked walked walked! As we were heading to Independence Park, we saw Reading Market, which is an indoor market that reminded me of Fanuel Hall in Boston or the Ferry Building in San Fran. We got some coffee, and walked over to City Hall to see the beautiful building along with our first (of many) Ben Franklin statues - the huge one on top of the building. After that we went to get tickets for Independence Hall and got tickets for 3:45 (it was noon), so we went and saw the Liberty Bell -- oooh, a bell!
Afterwards, we headed on a long sweaty walk to Pats King of Steaks for an awesome Philly Cheese Steak. On the way we walked by Washington Square Park, where a lot of unknown soldiers from the revolutionary war. We also passed some cute little colonial looking houses.
At Pats, there was a pretty big line, a lil longer that Ginos across the street. Supposedly, Pats is where the sandwich originated and its still run by the family. There was a very specific way to order and I think we did pretty good, although I was told to hurry up and "Pick up your cheesesteak, doll, there aren't any waiters for ya". I got the true cheesteak with cheese wiz and onions- Chris got American cheese. Needless to say, it was delicious!
Chris hates this pic of me, and though it is a very bad picture of me, it captures the sandwich, which is more important :)
Afterwards, we headed back to Independence Park and being the dorks we are busted out the Fresh Prince of Bel Air tune -- In West Philadelphia born and raised.... it was like a required thing to do there.... once we got back downtown, we rested and cooled down in the Customs House which had a little exhibit. I guess the first guy to have a museum had all these portraits of prominent people in society- older, white men- and they were on display here.
We wandered through Philosphical Hall- there was a cool exhibit on 5 American Explorers including John James Audubon and Ruth Patrick, who was a pioneer in the field of ecology. She studied water ecosystems and the effects of pollution by looking at the variety of diatoms- microscopic unicellular organisms... Go Ruth!!! Finally, it was our time to go on the tour of Independence Hall. Our ponytailed guide was full of energy and interesting facts , and he laid out the workings of the building in which the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution had been signed.
He is strong now! Fighting hard now!!! Gonna fly nowwwwwwwwwwwwwww ooooh
Chris successfully ran to the top and did the Rocky shaking of fists over head thing at the top. My favorite part was watching everyone else do this too. It was great.
This pic shows the view from the Museum, past the Washington Monument Fountain, down Ben Franklin Parkway, all the way to the City Hall. It also shows our route, which we walked after walking around allllll day. It also goes through Love park with that famous LOVE statue. Theres also another fountain, and after spending one day in Philly, it might rival Kansas City as "City of Fountains". We ended the day at Monks, a Belgian Cafe that was recommended to us by Jeff. They had some really good Beer and food. The bus ride back was quick, although there was a smelly shoes-taken-off experience that I'd like to forget. All in all, we really packed it in and got a good first impression of Philly.
Philadelphia
- Reading Market
- City Hall
- Independence National Park
- Liberty Bell
- Washington Square
- Pat's King of Steaks
- Custom House
- Philosophical Hall
- Independence Hall
- Great Essentials Hall
- Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Washington Monument Fountain
- Benjamin Franklin Parkway
- Love Park (with famous LOVE sculpture)
- Monks Belgian Cafe
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