Ah, Philadelphia - the City of Brotherly Love. Well, it took me a short amount of time to learn that wasn’t necessarily the case (see prior blogpost about the car rental business). If I didn’t already know from reading stories about Philly sports fans, it didn’t take long for me to find out that Pennsylvania’s most populated city (more than 1.3 million more people than Pittsburgh) has plenty of opinionated and somewhat disgruntled people. The good news, however, is that the historical nature and interesting sites of one of our nation’s most famous cities outshone the negativity that occasionally presented itself during my time in Philadelphia (basically half of my first day and the half of the second day).
On the historic side, there were plenty to see. Starting with the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, I was able to also see the Betsy Ross House and Penn’s Landing. Philadelphia was a major city in the early part of our nation’s history and these sites were evidence of the pride the city has shown in promoting that history.
An unexpected treat early on in my journey was walking up to a local drinking establishment called Paddy’s Pub. Having read and been told that there was no such bar as Paddy’s Pub in Philadelphia (the show is mostly filmed in California), I had to go inside. This was definitely not the same place - it was a fairly small dive bar - but they took full advantage of having the namesake of one of the best shows still going.
In addition to the history and the coolness factor that goes with Paddy’s Pub, Philadelphia is also well known as the home of Rocky Balboa. He is well represented outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and I added my name to the long list of those who ran the steps as they were run in the movie. I actually handled it relatively well, but I have to admit it was my first exercise of the day on my second day of the trip.
I was able to check out some other cool locations such as Penn University, the famed Dickens and Little Nell statue, Citizens Bank Park, and Love Park. But I also had to make sure I checked out what Philadelphia is most known for - for foodies, anyway - the Philly cheesesteak. I went to the corner where two of the more known cheesesteak locations are separated only by intersecting streets - Geno’s and Pat’s. I chose the former and while I thought it was good, I also learned that cheesesteaks in general are a little overrated.
With Philadelphia out of the way (until my final night of the trip), I was now focused on moving on to my next destination to close out day two - a drive through New Jersey (with a brief stop in Atlantic City) before arriving to the brights lights of the Big Apple!
