This past weekend, the last in May, I took the bus to Philly to meet Melanie who was there, visiting from Chicago, all week for work. We started the trip by immediately heading to South Philly to seek out the most famous of the famous Cheesesteak sandwiches. They did NOT disappoint. Oh YUM. We choose Genos, because they just looked more tacky and authentic!
Then we headed back towards city center, stopping on South Street for a delicious frozen tropical drink on an outdoor patio with lots of people watching opportunity. Next, we strolled down to Penn's Landing on the waterfront and walked along the river. Lots of walking!
We strolled through the National Historic park and the lovely, colonial, tree-lined streets with brick sidewalks. We enjoyed belgian beer at an INCREDIBLE creperie, but decided to pass on dinner there and head instead to a Mexican place with five dollar margaritas and ofcourse, another outdoor patio! At our last stop, at another patio table, we enjoyed 2 dollar Yuenglings! I was incredulous.
The next morning, bright and early, we headed back downtown. First stop, Independence Visitor's Center. Then, the Liberty Bell, then a guided tour of Indepence Hall. Next, we visited Christ Church cemetary, where Ben Franklin is buried. Followed by the Betsy Ross house, where we saw a couple of period actors. We enjoyed lunch at Gigi, (at a sidewalk table, ofcourse) where I had my SECOND cheesesteak in only 2 days! And then we took a trolley out to the lovely art museum, so that we could run up and down the stairs Rocky-style. (ok, we were too full and had heavy bags, so didn't do a great job at that. But we did take a cute pic with the Rocky statue.) Final stop, Love Park, although we were a bit disappointed with the tiny size of the Love statue! We had seen a much bigger one in New York, for some reason, many years ago. We rested our weary feet in the fountain for a few minutes before I had to hop on the subway to catch my bus back to New York.
Independence Hall, the birthplace of our nation!
