Philadelphia, PA

What city is only 2 hours away from New York? Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

A couple of weeks ago, I randomly found a cheap bus ticket to Philadelphia. I decided that while I am out here on the East Coast, I should take advantage by exploring New York's surrounding cities. There is so much history and so much to see!

So, after a quick decision, and a quick subtraction of 26 dollars from my bank account, I was headed to Philly for a sight-seeing day trip.

It ended up being really fun because my friend Allison decided to join me last minute; so I had a buddy to explore with!

Our first stop in the city was the Liberty Bell. One of my friends might have challenged me to kiss the Liberty Bell...and I might have actually believed this was a possibility for about a minute. It turns out that there is such a thing as security...nevertheless, I am proud to say that I still attempted such a kiss.



After the Liberty Bell, we wandered around for a little while, enjoying various historical sights of Philly.

We also stopped and got a Philly Cheese Steak for lunch. You can't go to Philly without eating this greasy combo of meat and cheese. Sounds so appetizing! Yum!



After lunch, we took a guided tour of Independence Hall. As far as historical sights were concerned, this was definitely my favorite. We got to see the room where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and debated about the Constitution for days and days.




It was humbling to think that so many intelligent and inspired men actually stood where I was standing. I mean, our country was quite literally founded in that room. It reminded me that I am so proud to be an American.





And write they did!

After Independence Hall, we decided to walk only 6 blocks to the Delaware River. Luckily Allison was with me, because I had no idea that it was the Delaware River...fortunately she filled me in.



Unfortunately for us, however, we didn't know which state was on the other side of the river. Feeling less than smart, I timidly had the following conversation with a native Philly Man:

CQ: "Excuse me, this is the Delaware River, right?"

Philly Man: "Yes"

CQ: "So, does that mean (Carolyn points across the river) that is...um...Delaware?"

Philly Man: "Oh, no...that's New Jersey. Camden, New Jersey. Don't ever go there. Ever. It's home of Campbell's Soup though. And it has a good aquarium. But you really don't want to go there."

Lessons Learned: The Delaware River is quite a bit longer than the actual state of Delaware... and, don't ever go to Camden, New Jersey. Ever.

Our final goal for the day was to make it to the Rocky statue. I always wondered why it was such a big deal that Rocky climbed the steps to the Philadelphia Art Museum. I mean, it couldn't have been that hard. Really Rocky? Steps?

So, Allison and I began our long walk to the art museum to take our pictures with the famous Rocky statue. We continued walking. And continued walking. And continued...walking...

Who knew the Philadelphia Art Museum was so far away from everything?! I seriously started singing "Eye of the Tiger". No joke, I needed the motivation.



By the time we made it to the Rocky steps, we were sooo tired. At this point, we weren't sure where the statue of Rocky even was, and we weren't about to climb the steps to find out. I think the landscapers/planners knew this might happen to unsuspecting tourists, so they brilliantly positioned the Rocky statue at the bottom of the steps.

We took our triumphant pictures with Rocky, and I was once again humbled for a second time that day. I barely made it to the steps, much less to the top of them. Not only did I not climb them, but I didn't even think about climbing them.

This is how we should have felt...


This is how we actually felt...

Rocky, I gotta hand it to you. I was so wrong about you.

Philadelphia is a great city, and it was fun to spend the day there!