Thursday night I took a ride on Bolt Bus and took a 24-hour vacation in Philadelphia.
It was my first time there, and luckily I was being tour guided around by my friend (Philadelphia-native) who flew into Philadelphia for just a day, like me, because it was en route to New Jersey.
Anyway, so around 8:45 I arrived on 30th and Market across the street from some abandoned train station. Being so-o-o savvy, I used my hand-drawn map and found the subway and paid two dollars to ride a trolley. The trolley was really old, and it couldn't have possibly been able to fit more than 30 people, but I guess that just means it has more charm, doesn't it?
Got out at 19th and Market and found my way to the hotel. After settling in, I walked around the neighborhood at night. My goal was to reach Rittenhouse Square, but instead I guess I got mixed up between East and West and South and North and ended up getting to LOVE park. Basically, I reached Robert Indiana's LOVE Statue and snapped a few discrete photos because I didn't want to be beaten up by the people in the park.
That night, for an hour I must have walked in circles, crossing 18th-15th between Market and Chestnut, Walnut, and Sansom several times.
Eventually I decided to stop turning right and found my way to Rittenhouse Square and I swore that I actually squealed in delight. The area around the square was so much more active than the other parts I had walked around earlier: people were eating, drinking, eating fro-yo. I sat in the park for a while, desperately wishing that I was a smoker so that I wouldn't seem like such a loner (they didn't know my friend's flight had been diverted to Texas and delayed by two hours, after all). The square was beautiful and filled with couples and pot-smoking skateboarders. I couldn't help but feel like I was in Paris (only to learn that, indeed, the square was French-inspired!), especially when I saw a random three French bistros lined up next to each other on one side of the square.
The next day was great. I got my own personal tour guide and saw Independence Hall and took a picture of the Liberty Bell from the outside. I was really, really excited to see Independence Hall because in seventh grade, our science class went to Knott's Berry Farm to learn about physics by riding roller coasters, and on the way, our teachers thought it would be a brilliant idea to take a few kids to Knott's Berry Farm's own replica of Independence Hall. There was my first up-close-and-personal encounter with something from our nation's history pre-1849. I even bought a copy of the Declaration of Independence. But here, seeing the real thing, it was amazing. It even came with colonial people!
Anyway, then I was taken to Reading Terminal Market and ate my first Cheese Steak and had a chocolate chip cookie covered in chocolate. Needless to say I was stuffed, and for the rest of the day, I felt pangs of lethargy I never knew I had in me.
My last two hours in Philadelphia were spent in the art museum where I was sort of falling asleep on my feet and heard a country/folk-style rendition of U2's "With Or Without You"Philadelphia's so tiny and easy to walk around. The buildings were so charming! I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. But I had to leave because my friend was really eager to get to the Phillies game. Oh, baseball.
And by 9 PM I was back in NYC.
