Philadelphia

We decided to stay 2 nights in Philadelphia to break up the drive from NYC to DC. Originally I had booked us in a Motel 6 just outside Philly. Our experience in NYC made me cancel that and get an Air BNB instead!

We had an uneventful drive out of NYC after picking up some Hungarian baked goods and delicious coffees. We arrived to our Air BNB in South Philly and settled in. Now, I don’t know much about Philadelphia apart from what’s sung in the Fresh Prince theme song. I can only surmise that he didn’t sing about South Philly is because no one leaves! It’s certainly a gritty area and a quick Reddit search confirmed Hanika’s suspicions. On street parking wasn’t possible so I ended up finding an overpass to park under, 2km away, at night. Good thing I had clanging beer bottles to alert everyone to my presence! In all honesty though I’ve felt less safe in Joburg and Winnipeg.

Our full day was spent wandering around the historic downtown. We had Philly Cheesesteaks for lunch which were great despite not being from Gino’s. It’s a beautiful city full of history and beautiful buildings. I’d suggest a few days to soak it all in. On recommendation of Cathy in Ottawa we went to the Mutter Museum at the Philadelphia College of Physicians. It has an extraordinary collection of pathology specimens including Einsteins’s brain! Moose was oddly taken by the congenital deformities section. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures.

The next day we left to DC with a stop in Lancaster to visit an Amish farm. Moose had a blast petting and feeding all the animals. We grabbed some smoked ribs for dinner and set off for DC.