Philadelphia.... Lovely!
Philly, as it's affectionately called by the residents, is a fabulous city with plenty of historical sites mixed with a modern, forward thinking tourist industry that is a match made in heaven for anyone who loves to travel and explore.
Our hotel was very centrally located in the Midtown area where there is a huge choice of fantastic independent shops, bars and restaurants to choose from, with some awesome murals on the walls around the area. It felt perfectly safe to walk around and we explored just about everywhere on foot. The cost of living was much better than I had found in New York just a few months earlier. I bought a 500ml bottle of soda in an NYC convenience store at a cost of US$6 but in Philadelphia at a similar convenience store I got 2 bottles of soda and a large chocolate chip muffin for the same price.
We had planned ahead and had our Philadelphia Sightseeing Pass so that we weren't constantly checking entry costs for everything, we could access all of the cities main sights for one great value price.
We visited the One Liberty Observation Tower almost as soon as we arrived in the city which was a great way to get our bearings and understand the layout of the city. It's an observation platform high above Philly's streets. Being on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River on which the city sits, you can see all the way into New Jersey from the top of the tower. With a 360 degree view of the surrounding area it's easy to pick out landmarks and great for photo opportunities. It also gives you a great history of the city if you're not familiar with it already.
This was followed by a fabulous tour of Independence National Historical Park, seeing the original Courthouse, Independence Hall which was the site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution, the US Mint and the famous Liberty Bell. We heard how the founder of Philadelphia, William Penn, set out to build a new, free world away from his homeland of England, a place where democracy and religious freedom were the foundations. Even the name of the city confirms this, Philadelphia is Greek and means 'To love your brother'... his intentions couldn't have been any clearer! Our tour guide was excellent and obviously cared deeply about the history that he was sharing with us. It was a fabulous easy walking tour of around 90 minutes where we learnt just a little about the complex history of the city.
From here we headed the short distance to Reading Terminal Market, a bustling public indoor market where you can buy local produce, merchandise and fabulous food. After a wander around the many stalls and stands, live music being played in the centre of the hall and checking out all of the amazing culinary options on offer there was only one thing that I needed to try and that was a Philly Cheesesteak. We asked around and were told to check out Carmens, so off we went to queue (you know it's good when you are queuing!) for our cheesesteak. There was a menu board with about 10 different cheesesteak options but when you're trying it for the first time it has to be the original straight up, no added extras option! A cheesesteak is a sub roll stuffed full of fried finely sliced steak, onions and cheese, usually American cheese but you can add cheddar or other options if you prefer. I honestly have to say it was the best sandwich I have EVER eaten! Once we had polished that off we went on the hunt for dessert. We had been recommended Canolli, an Italian sweet pastry filled with flavoured cream so had to check it out, but I'd also recommend the Dutch Apple Dumpling with custard, another local treat. Philadelphians certainly know great food!
Philly also has a budding micro-brewery and distillery industry and most of the city centre ones offer free tours or very reasonably priced tours to see how they make their artisan products. It would be a great way to while away a damp day in the city.
We jumped on the Philadelphia Hop on Hop off bus tour for a glimpse of the most important sites of the city which turned out to be a great way to see parts of the city that you might not make it to on your own. The great thing with the bus is that you can literally get on and off at any of the 25 stops on the route and only pay one price. We saw City Hall, a beautiful building with it's iconic statue of William Penn on top, the Philadelphia Zoo, the port area of Penns Landing, the quaint leafy streets of the Old City, Love Park, Logan Circle and the Philadelphia Museum of Art to name a few.
We also visited the most historic prison built in the USA, Eastern State Penitentiary too. We had a lovely volunteer tour guide who gave us the history of the site whilst we walked around. It's a very eerie location and although is almost in the centre of Philadelphia feels very isolated when you're in there. With stories of the inmates, the living conditions, the wardens and the ghost stories it was a really interesting 2 hour tour. It housed some of the most notorious criminals during it's time, including famously, Al Capone! It was hard to believe that it was still in operation as recently as 1971!
Our last trip of our stay in Philadelphia was to somewhere that I was ridiculously excited to be visiting as it is such an iconic film location. We headed to the Museum of Fine Art for their 'Friday Nights' event where you can enjoy live music in the lobby with cocktails and canapes before explore the gallery at leisure. But before we headed inside it was the outside that we were most excited to see. Made famous in the film 'Rocky ll' the steps up to the museum are the very ones ran up by Stallone to the Rocky theme... we had our photo taken with the statue of Rocky at the bottom then we ran (well, some of us walked!) up the steps to the top for an amazing view across Philadelphia. It was definitely a bucket list moment and something that I'll never forget!!
Being only a 90 minute train ride from New York it would make a great twin centre location to combine a real historical trip with the bright lights of NYC in my opinion... would I return? Absolutely! I'd recommend a trip to Philly to everyone!