Now that I’ve properly compared the 3 most well known Philly Cheesesteak in Philadelphia – Jim’s, Pat’s and Geno’s – I can wrap up the Philly Food Tour series and let you know that there is more to do than to just eat in Philly. Seriously though, how did I not know that Philadelphia was such a great foodie city?
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| Onlooking Philly’s Art Museum through the Love sign in Love Park |
Of all the touristy spots in Philadelphia, there are two that comes to the top of mind, the Rocky Steps and the Liberty Bell. To supplement all the cheesesteak eating, we browsed the Philly Art Musuem, ran up the Rocky Steps and went to see the symbol of American Independence.
The Rocky Steps and Philadelphia Art Museum
First stop was to go run off Pat’s and Geno’s at the famous Rocky Steps, the 72 stone steps that leads up to the Philadelphia Art Museum. I have to admit, by the last few steps, I started getting tired, but with Rocky in mind, I continued to run and felt like a champ at the end.
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| Philadelphia Art Museum – my favorite exhibit is the armor, what can I say? I’m a sucker for shiny things |
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| Rocky statue that’s now at the base of the steps |
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| Champs! |
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| Besides the sillyness, this is also an art musuem |
Since we were already there, we also explored the art museum. Admission is $20 per adult. After throughly exploring the museum, we went back to our hotel which was right across the street from City Hall.
Fun Fact: Philadelphia City Hall was the tallest habitable building in the world from 1901 to 1908 and the tallest in Pennsylvania until 1932.
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| Beautiful City Hall with the facade mainly built with limestone, granite, and marble |
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| City Hall by night, it looked a bit more freaky at night, but still beautiful |
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| Right by Penn’s Landing, looking at the Delaware river with New Jersey right across the river |
The Liberty Bell
Something that I neglect to remember living in Manhattan is that the East Coast is so rich in US History. In Philadelphia, it’s a bit more in your face. It not only shows in the architecture as we walk around, but there’s a lot of pride for the history here. For example, The Franklin Fountain named themselves after one of founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin.
The Assembly Room in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall is where the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Nowadays, the Liberty Bell lives right across Independence Hall.
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| We all know the liberty bell is famous for the crack, ironic because supposedly the best workmen created it |
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| The large crack along the Liberty Bell |
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| See Independence Hall through floor to ceiling windows |
Supposedly, when the bell was first made, no one had tested it for sound. When they rang it for the first time, it cracked immediately. From there, the original bell has been melted down, recasted, melted down and recasted quite a few times.
I had no clue that bell casting was such a serious matter, but apparently it is! And even at the end, the bell is still cracked. Check out the wiki for more historical goodness.
Alas, after visiting the liberty bell, our trip was close to over. I really thoroughly enjoyed my short trip to Philly and can’t wait to visit again to explore more in the food scene.
Until then, I leave you with a photo of Philly as the sun sets.
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| Farewell for now Philly! I shall come back again soon. |
