We finally left the UK! Woop! Our flight had a stopover in Dublin Airport which allowed us to go through US CBP (Customs and Border Protection) ahead of Philadelphia which is so so easy – highly recommend as we’ve heard horror stories of hours in customs upon arriving in America.
We grabbed an uber and headed to our accommodation before getting some ramen. An early ish night was needed to try and shake off any jetlag.
Our first full day was fab. We got up and found coffee before wandering around Reading Terminal Markets (for food) and Wonderspaces (for art). The city was super easy to walk around so we explored the harbour side and Liberty Bell by foot before heading to Fishtown for dinner. James wasn’t too impressed with his sushi but I loved my Yaki Udon noodles 😋….yes 2 days in and I’ve only eaten Asian food! Obsessed!
On our way home, we were lucky enough to stumble across a pop up karaoke…where a car pulls over and sets up his mics and speakers for the public to blast out a song in the middle of the street. The vibe was great and we enjoyed listening to Americans murder classics such as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
Day 2 saw us rising early for a run in the city and then down to the Rocky Steps for James to live out a life ambition of running up them. Unfortunately the bottom half were closed for a big party they were hosting later in the week for Labor Day, but we made the most of the top half!
It was also the 1st Sept so James treated himself to his first Pumpkin Spiced Latte of the year before freshening up and heading out for lunch.
It was time to try the famous Philly Cheesesteaks we’d heard so much about. Our research led us to picking ‘Angelo’s Pizzaria’ to get ours. It was yum but no way could I eat one of those everyday!
Our afternoon consisted of wandering around the Franklin Institute (a mix of science and geography). We had a disappointing show in the planetarium but were surprised by how good the rest of the interactive exhibits were such as racing an Olympic sprinter, and climbing through the neurones of a brain.
A quick refreshment at a local tavern was needed before we went on our evening tour of the Eastern State Penitentiary. This place was great…there was a self guided audio tour around the place and the story behind it was fascinating! Al Capone was housed here for a while so we got to look in his cell and James even wrote a postcard to a current cell mate in an open prison in a place called Somerset.
Our final stop was dinner where I had wings (Korean style of course) and James some Korean chicken and rice. Well fed and feeling like we’d seen the best of Philly, we packed our bags ready to head to Washington the next day.
