If there was a city on this trip I knew less about than Boston then it had to be Philly. In the last couple of years my knowledge of this city had expanded from practically nothing to knowing it was sports mad, it was somewhat historic and also cheesesteaks.

My third day in Boston had turned into something of a beer/rest day but this was not a bad thing as I was well rested ahead of my 4:15am alarm. I gathered my things and tiptoed slowly out of the room and checked out well before 5am.

The first bus to Boston Airport left from Back Bay station but on looking at Google Maps, there appeared to be two stops. I went to the closer one. There was a small sign and I wasn’t too convinced I was in the right spot, fortunately someone joined me within a few minutes. The bus was late and I was waved on without paying the $3 fare.

I hadn’t really wanted to fly to Philadelphia given that it’s only 300 miles but for an overnight bus, it was too short of a distance and required a change in New York. As I wanted to arrive in Philly before 10am, daytime travel had also been out the question.

I checked in, got through security and was sat around at the departure gate. I heard no calls for boarding. I saw no-one boarding until at 7am I heard “Last call for Philadelphia.” WHAT? Yes I almost missed my flight! I was the last one on board, I was getting on at the last possible moment and all I could think about was simply, how did I almost mess up? On boarding there were only 15 other people so I can began to understand why.

The flight departed on time and landed a little over an hour later despite being scheduled to take about 2 hours. Conditions in Philly were dank. Heavy rain, wind and I was grateful for my boots. With so few on the flight I was stood with my backpack waiting to take a train into downtown just 15 minutes after hitting the tarmac.

Getting into Philadelphia was easy, $6.75 for a ticket on the Airport Line to 30th Street and from there I had to take the subway to 2nd Street for an additional $2.75 with my hostel 2 minutes walk away.

The decision to fly was justified as I got to the hostel just after 10am to drop my bags off and practically had a full day to enjoy the city.

Unlike days two and three in Boston I had a list of things I wanted to see, more or less all in the compact Old City. It was a good idea as any to start at the Museum of American Revolution a mere 0.2 miles from the hostel.

What I’d learnt in Boston was really good, but this museum took my knowledge of American history to the next level. Admission was $21 and the attendant was a bit surprised when he asked where I was from and I replied the UK, clearly Philadelphia is not a hot tourist destination in late January!

The museum takes you through the full story about how the revolution came about and what happened afterwards. It was educational, entertaining and without too many kids wandering around.

I spent over 2 hours learning in the museum before exiting out into the rain which did start to clear up as the day went on.

Independence Hall was my next intended stop off but passed by the first bank of the United States, Carpenters Hall (which had a small museum inside) and Washington Square.

All rather pretty and I could see that in the summer it would be a lovely place to stroll around.

I got to Independence Hall and there was another one of those security checks, this time contained within a tent. Independence Hall was where the US Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated and adopted, it was not free to walk around within a guided tour being given instead although two of the outer buildings were free to visit afterwards.

Behind me in the picture in the bottom right was the building containing the Liberty Bell. I expected an old building with the bell inside and little else but instead it was a modern building with an exhibit before the bell itself. I’d known about the bell but not so much about its importance, the exhibit conjured up a feeling deep inside me and I could feel what the Bell meant and how important it was to Americans and their values.

The final stop on tour of United States history for the Constitutional Center just a few minutes north away. It cost $14 to enter and there were three things to see: a downstairs room about different topics in US history, signers hall which had life sized statues of all 39 founding fathers and a huge exhibition hall that went through major events in US history on the 2nd floor.

Several hours of learning had once again got too much for me and I only spent about 1 hour 30 inside. There was no more information going into my head and I was just wasting my time.

It was now late afternoon and I hadn’t eaten so headed for Reading Terminal Market in downtown for some very late lunch. The market had an overwhelming selection of food and eventually I settled on a Meatball Sub for $10. I couldn’t quite head back to the hostel though as I hadn’t got a ticket for the basketball. All my other tickets were QR Codes on my phone, I had to physically print off my ticket for the evening’s game.

So where do you print something off in the middle of a major American city? A FedEx office. I’d emailed the PDF document to a FedEx email address so now I had to go into a store and use their system to print it off. The nearest one was not far from Reading Market. There was a nominal fee and the process was simple, everything done for the day and it was back to the hostel to check in, and prepare for the evening’s entertainment.

After walking back for 2 miles I had some pizza and went to a liquor store to buy some beer. I had a little issue, I got I.Ded and my passport was in my money belt in my locker. Despite this I did have my Taiwanese ARC on me and the gentleman accepted it strangely enough! Around 7 it was time to take the Philadelphia to NRG with a change of trains. at City Hall.

Getting out the station I realised all of Philadelphia’s major teams played in this area, the baseball stadium at 9 o’clock, the NFL stadium at 10 o’clock and the Wells Fargo Center at 11. I wasn’t quite sure where to queue with huge crowds gathered but it all worked out fine.

My seat had a slightly obscured view with some glass in the way. This NBA match-up was easy to get a ticket for but had been very very expensive at $277 on the resale market some months before, looking at the resale market prior to the game, tickets were going for $400 plus. Why so expensive? 1) Philly are great at home and a top team in the Eastern Conference and 2) The Lakers were in town and top of the West. It had titanic written all over it and was on national TV.

The team introductions contrasted quite heavily, the Lakers were greeted by SUCK by large numbers of home fans and the 76ers intro was 3 minutes of lights, music, special effects and a replica of the Liberty Bell that was hit 3 times which caused the floor to ‘crack’. It was almost worth the admission fee alone!

This should have been a close match-up and it was for the first 5-6 minutes until Philadelphia took the lead going on a 17-5 run to lead 30-18. Simmons and Harris shot well in the absence of Joel Embiid and after the first quarter, Philly led 35-25. The 10 point lead would hold with Philly never looking like they’d give it up.

Midway through the 3rd quarter with the score 74-58 to the 76ers LeBron James went 3rd and above Kobe Bryant in the NBA’s All Time Scoring List, in Kobe’s hometown! This would be the only bright spark for the Lakers who shot poorly particularly from beyond the arc and would fall to a 107-91 defeat, the result rarely looked in doubt.

The game finished gone 11pm after an 8:30pm start and was back at the hostel about midnight with no problems getting the first subway train after the game. Oh how Sunday would be a comedown…

Day 2 in Philadelphia

I had plans for day two but not great plans, they were more like ideas. I wanted to visit Eastern State Penitentiary a former prison about 2 miles from the Old Town district and stopped by a much quieter Reading Market for a BLT sandwich. On a clear day, the difference in architecture between the Old Town and modern downtown was quite stark.

I hadn’t seen much of the downtown area, and it looked most other modern cities with an important difference, the tree lined Benjamin Franklin Parkway which has been compared to the Champs Elysees in Paris. It was certainly pretty with many art museums and other attractions on either side.

The Penitentiary was about 10 minutes walk off the Parkway and from the outside looked very imposing.

It was $16 to enter and there was a suggestion to take an audio tour. Usually I don’t bother as some of the audio guides I’d have, have been boring. I got 10 minutes into my walk around the prison and was soon scampering back to the entrance to pick up an audio guide and start again. Unless you actually pick up an audio guide, you won’t learn anything as there is no information on the walls!

The prison had been built in the 1830s and closed in 1971 with only essential restoration. The audio tour had 18 essential stops and then a lot of options areas, depending on your own interests.

The pictures below show two example of cellblocks, the prison had been on a ‘hub and spoke’ design with various cellblocks added in later years. In picture four is the yard.

These photos show the central area and one from one of the few inside sections which was about modern incarceration in the US. Pictures 3 and 5 the old baseball backstop and the huge wall, picture 4 shows how additional cellblocks were added on later.

Perhaps the most startling part about the prison was listening to former inmates talk about their experiences. It was a cold morning and it helped to bolster this feeling that this former prison was not somewhere you wanted to be locked up. Had it been warmer, I don’t think I would have got the same impression.

The most notable thing after the end of the main audio tour (the so called optional areas) was Al Capone, ‘supposed’ former cell. He had been in the prison for around a year and he was apparently given special treatment but there has been also been some doubt thrown on that too. I had my best to do listen and go to every stop I was interested in but truthfully, it was too chilly.

I am not known for being an art connoisseur and with limited time decided to skip various art galleries in favour of a walk to the river side.

I had a look at Fairmount Dam and the small museum next to it, not that I was particularly in Philadelphia’s water treatment systems but rather yes, I was cold! I walked around the Philadelphia Museum of Art to the front where I’d been told to walk up the Rocky’s steps with the statue of Rocky Balboa next to them.

My next stop was just down Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the science based Franklin Institute. It was $22 for standard admission and of the museums I visited in the US, this is one I had the most mixed feelings on. It was fun, interactive but absolutely full of kids. I should have enjoyed it but there were too many people inside.

Tourism had come above food but there was something important to do involving food, have a cheesesteak. I got on the subway and went to South Philadelphia to visit Cheesesteak Corner home of Genos. It was a 10 minute subway ride, a 15 minute walk and I was Genos for less than 10 minutes. Just 10 minutes to order, collect and devour a $10 cheesesteak. I wanted a second one but thought I’d end up going to another cheesesteak place, that never happened…

I got off the subway back in the Old Town, went back to the liquor store I’d visited the previous evening for two IPAs and things changed. My phone bleeped a few times, nothing out the ordinary until I saw they were all messages, this moment divided the trip in two. There was a big news story coming out of California…

Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash.

I was in Kobe’s home city, I’d watched the Lakers play just 24 hours before and seen Bryant passed by LeBron in the all time scoring list. I was numb, immediately numb. How else do you react to a moment like this? I knew it would be the early hours of the following day back in Taiwan, and they’d be basketball fans I knew waking up to the news.

My time in Philadelphia ended with a trip defining moment, I was headed to LA just 5 days later and the whole mood, not just mine but in the US seemed to change after.

I had a few beers, packed up and headed to bed around 10. I was off to the capital of the United States, Washington DC for 4 nights.

Washington DC post will come in the next week or so.

Tom