Chilling Out, Maxing, Relaxing All Cool (In Philadelphia)

The cool thing about the East Coast is that there are so many cool things close to each other. This affords the opportunity to take some pretty cool day trips. Here are a couple of thoughts from our first day trip from New York out to Philadelphia:

• Getting from Long Island to anywhere on the main land is tough, and can cause your trip to be much longer than expected (especially if you want to avoid paying the ridiculously high tolls).
• You pronounce Jersey as “Joy-see,” but Chels hates it when people say it that way! I admit, we have met very few people from New Jersey who say it that way, but that stupid show ruined it for everyone else.
• People in New Jersey will hit you up at the gas station trying to buy your car?
• The New Jersey Turnpike is a complete rip off considering you have to pay to sit in traffic (according to the toll booth guy, it ALWAYS has traffic).
• Princeton isn’t as pretty as I thought it would be (USC and UCSD are much more impressive!).
• Philadelphia is much bigger and nicer than I expected, but older at the same time. It gave me some vibes of a smaller Rome at times.
• Too many historic sights to see in one day! We saw the Liberty Bell, Benjamin Franklins Grave, and Independence Hall. There are so many more to see though that it definitely calls for another day/weekend trip.
• It is nearly impossible to parallel park pulling in head first instead of backing in.
• The real Philly Cheese Steak is good, but it is not the same as what we think of as an authentic Philly Cheese Steak in California.
• There is a huge Ross (with disgusting bathrooms, I must add) in downtown Philly, but not a single one on Long Island or in NYC. Interesting.
• The coolest historical monument that we saw in Philly was definitely the “Rocky Steps.” The steps that Rocky ran up in the movie to end his work out. There is a cool statue in front of the stairs of Sly Stallone as Rocky with his hands in the air (great photo opportunity). Chelsia and I were the first to take the challenge and run up the stairs just like Rocky did.
• The view from the top of the “Rocky Steps” is bee-eee-ehh-you-tiful! You can see all of the planning that went into the city from atop those steps. There is a direct line going to City Hall (a wide diagonal street) and you can see the city radiate out in a circle from City Hall and that street from the top of the steps. We were also fortunate enough to catch the view at sunset. Awe inspiring. A must see and a great end to the day trip.

-S

Found this hole-in-the-wall Philly Cheesesteak place on Yelp!

Top of the "Rocky Steps"

View from the "Rocky Steps"