Cheesesteaks and History in Philly

We drove to Philadelphia from New York on a Saturday morning and arrived just in time for a Philly cheesesteak lunch. We'd consulted a few Philly experts for the best place to get one, and the almost unanimous suggestion was Jim's Steaks - a sort of hole-in-the-wall old joint that has a line out the door and around the corner at all times. Well worth the wait - and mine didn't even have meat on it! Tom got a cheesesteak with provolone, onions, peppers, and mushrooms, and I got one with all of that, sans steak. We waited for more than an hour in the sweltering July sun, but it was so worth it. Delicious!

After lunch, we wandered back to the main tourist attractions through some old neighborhoods. In some ways, this city felt like Boston with its age and colonial history. Like in Boston, there is a great focus on the forefathers and the beginnings of this country. There are demonstrations by actors in white wigs and 1700s attire and colonial flags hanging from homes and historic buildings.

After wandering around outside for a while, we went over to the Old City Hall, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell. All of the sites and tours here are free (!!!), so we spent some time looking through them all. The photos below show places where the first U.S. Supreme Court held session, where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and where the first U.S. Congress met. Independence Hall was unfortunately undergoing renovations, but they put up a sort of makeshift mesh screen to show tourists what it would look like uncovered. Certainly not the same, but a nice effort.

The Liberty Bell was a lot smaller than I thought it would be - I guess because its reputation is so big, it seemed like it would be a giant, imposing bell. As you can see from the photos, it's only about three feet tall!

From here, we walked down to Philadelphia's waterfront where a Hispanic festival was going on. We walked through it unable to understand anything, split a smoothie, and headed back to our car.

We drove a little south of Philadelphia and stayed for what I thought was the last night of our trip before driving the remaining seven hours to North Carolina. As far as I knew, our plan for the next day was to stop in Virginia at Monticello and then head back to NC to conclude our trip. Tom, however, had other plans...

Up next: A romantic anniversary surprise!