Philadelphia, PA

where we were greeted by friendly faces and many napable parks

We left Washington D.C in the middle of a flash flood warning and drove straight for Philadelphia, where we had a place with a friend to lay our heads for the night (and for a couple of extra days after that). The flood warning in D.C seemed just as necessary in Philadelphia and despite miraculously finding a parking spot outside our friend’s house we still managed to step into his place completely drenched. We had gotten used to the heat to the south for the past few weeks and it was a complete shock to the system to meet rain again, especially so much bloody rain. Regardless, we had made it to Philadelphia, found a friend and were ready to explore what the city had to offer.

We woke up the next morning to sunshine. Thankfully the rainstorm had moved on in the night and Philly was looking fresh and inviting. Making a quick list cobbled together from internet suggestions, our host’s recommendations and whatever tidbits we had to go on, we went off exploring for the day.

Philadelphia is awash with American history. We quickly found Independence Hall and immediately spotted the queue for the Liberty Bell. Having originally planned to go in and have a proper up close look at it, the queue was a bit outrageous for what it was so we decided otherwise. We ended up walking around the side and got a peak of it through the window though – good enough! 🙂

Washington Square Park

Town Hall

Philadelphia is a great place for little urban parks. Between the Washington Square Park, the Independence National Historic Park and Rittenhouse Square we managed to have a little snack and a quick snooze almost everywhere we found greenery! The trip had begun to catch up on us and there was something so relaxing about these little parks, they made it almost impossible not to catch a few winks.

We rounded off day one with a trip to the “Rocky steps” otherwise known as the entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. One of us partook in the famous step run, the other watched, while eating an ice-cream.

Day two was a haze of wandering around and drinks with friends, not too much to report here. One notable event though was the tasting of THE FAMOUS PHILLY CHEESESTEAK. Knowing that there’s only one or two places in Philly that you want to get your cheesesteak from we headed to Pat’s King of Steaks based on a recommendation from our friend. One of us is vegetarian and sat this one out but the other partook and was suitably impressed by this Philly staple.

Pat’s King of Steaks

We only spent three days in Philadelphia before continuing on with our whistle-stop tour of America. It wasn’t our first stop along the east coast but it was the first place that really gave us that east coast feel – a little bit gritty and albeit hard-nosed at times, but so much god damn charm and character, and we were loving it.

On to New York for a few days to tourist the hell out of The Big Apple.