Philly loaded!

Well I'm just about to fall asleep after a busy time down in Philadelphia. Last night I saw the nightlife - from the "first Friday" gallery openings to one of the best pubs I've ever been in, 'The Khyber Pass.' It was a great night and met a whole host of people; an Aussie public servant, a Brooklyn music agent and a couple from Manchester (to be fair to them they guessed my accent as "Sheffield"). All in all some really cool people in a cool place, and the hostel kindly gave us free beer all night before we went out. No complaints!

I woke up with a bit of a sore head but eventually surfaced and took in some proper sights. The Liberty Bell and the area where the Declaration of Independence were created were all really interesting and a bit of a surprise to be honest. When I planned this trip, I never really looked into Philadelphia so much and that's probably why it has been such an enjoyable stop, because of my low expectations. And cheesesteak, but more of that later.

After that I took a long stroll to the Museum of Art. I was originally only going to go there to run up the steps like Rocky and shout "Adrian!!!" - which I did, albeit quietly - but everyone I spoke to raved about it. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the place and quality of the art on offer. My blog has been a bit silly up to now so I won't suddenly start waxing lyrical about Picasso but I would definitely recommend the museum a visit if art is your thing.

In the evening I had one last mission to accomplish in my short time here - to eat a Philly cheesesteak sandwich. They are available all over but 'Pat's King of Steaks' are the most famous so I headed through some pretty dicey neighbourhoods to find it. If I could ever impregnate a sandwich it would have been this one. Layers of tender steak "wit" onions and using "wiz" cheese (I'm not going mad, that's how you have to say it. "Wiz" is basically melted cheese sauce). It was $9 of pure bliss and worth the flight here alone.

So all in all Philly has been the first surprise package of my trip. Now it's off to Washington to see what the nation's capital has to offer. Keep reading y'all!