After spending a few days in New York City, the third stop on our East Coast summer trip was Philadelphia. We had a great time visiting historical sites, eating Philly Cheesesteaks, seeing Greg's cousins and their families and visiting Jenkintown, home of "The Goldbergs." Below is as a recap of everything we did as well as photos of our visit to Philadelphia.
Sunday 8/6: We left New York City and took a train to Philadelphia. After checking into our hotel, we headed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and did the obligatory run up the steps from "Rocky." After touring the museum, we saw the Rocky statue. Later we had dinner at Maggiano's.
Monday 8/7: We walked through Love Park on our way to Franklin Institute. Unfortunately the Love Statue had been temporarily removed for cleaning. We did get to see the AMOR statue though. At the Franklin Institute we were able to see cool exhibits including the Giant Heart, the SportsZone, Sir Issac's Loft, and a Virtual Reality exhibit. That evening we took a train to Jenkintown, to meet Greg's cousins and their families for dinner. Alex and Gina were super excited about visiting Jenkintown, since the TV show "The Goldbergs" takes place in Jenkintown. We even had the opportunity to drive past the real Adam F. Goldberg's childhood home.
Tuesday 8/8: On Tuesday, we had an early morning appointment to tour Independence Hall. We participated in a guided tour of Independence Hall and Congress Hall and it was really cool. We also saw the Liberty Bell while we were there. After that, we visited the U.S. Mint before hitting Sonny's Famous Steaks for our first cheesesteak of the day. Next we visited 2nd Story Brewery Company, which was a pretty cool place and had some great beers but Gina hated the strong smell of hops. After that we stopped by Reading Terminal Market and picked out some yummy treats for later that night. Next we visited One Liberty Observation Deck where we not only got to see great views of the city, but enjoyed a funny and historic tour. Next we visited South Street Market and hit Jim's Steaks for our second cheesesteak of the day. After Jim's we walked down to Brauhaus Schmitz for some snacks and German beer. Next we went to Spruce Street Harbor Park, where we saw beautiful lights and played an over-sized game of Connect Four and Chess.
Wednesday 8/9: On our last day in Philadelphia, we toured the Eastern State Penitentiary. They had a really cool audio tour narrated by Steve Buscemi. We also got to see a cell that had once been occupied by Al Capone and had been upgraded with nice furniture and decor. After the tour we visited Luigi's Pizza Fresca before head to the Lawlor's house on our way to Reading.