First Time in Philly

Ding dong

After my trip to Boston last month, the last major city on the east coast to cross off my list was Philadelphia.  I've heard mixed reviews in the past... some people love it, some not so much.  My friend Tag was having his Dirty 30 last weekend there, so it was a perfect time for me to do some sightseeing and have a place to stay.  My project on in Connecticut makes it an easy trip to get pretty much anywhere on the eastern seaboard and it's better than trying to fly there from the west coast.

I got to Philly by taking Amtrak down from Connecticut – it was only about a 3 hour ride.  I’ve gotten used to taking the trains between the major cities like I did on my trips around Belgium and Holland a few years ago.  It’s kind of nice avoiding the traffic and relaxing.  I used to get pretty motion sick but I’ve gotten to the point where I can do a crossword puzzle and light reading on the train.  Tag and Missy, his girlfriend, picked me up from the train station and took me to South Street.  I immediately recognized it from the opening credits of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  The bars were relatively quiet (as it was a Thursday night) so we only had a few drinks at Jon's and went to their apartment.

The next day Tag played tour guide around downtown Philly.  We walked by Betsy Ross’ house, but we didn’t have much interest/time to go inside.  The Liberty Bell was free to see and we only had to wait in a line for about 5 minutes.  It’s funny that I recognized it more from National Treasure than from history class.  We also briefly walked into the massive Masonic Temple which was a place where the founding fathers of lore made plans for our new country.  That looked cool but we really didn't have time for it either.

Creepy Wooden Statues R Us

One of the more random stops we made was at “The Most Unusual Store in Philadelphia.” Tag had never noticed it before, but had probably walked by it a handful of times.  We went inside and were faced with hundreds of wooden carvings, statues, weapons and oddities from Africa.  It was dark and dusty and could have been the setting to a scary movie where the figures come to life when the sun goes down.  (When I started Googling the store for this post, I found out that the owner got busted a few years ago for smuggling carved ivory into the US.)

Later that afternoon we drove by the Philadelphia Museum of Art (made famous from Rocky), but I didn’t get to take a good picture.  They were preparing for the PhiladelphiaMarathon later in the weekend and we had to stay on schedule.  I was meeting my friends David and Carrie for dinner and they lived a little ways outside of the city.  David and I went to grad school together and I hadn’t seen him since he and Carrie had their 3 kids (chaos!!!).  So we got a chance to catch up and have a home cooked meal… I also got a little sneak peak on how parenthood changes everything!

Geno's vs. Pat's

I met back up with Tag and Missy after dinner and we hung out until a few more of his friends came in from out of town.  We went out to 'center city.'  The names escape me now but there was nothing especially noteworthy about them.  And we weren't out to rage all night long since tomorrow was going to be a big day.

We took it easy the next morning and started prepping for everyone to come over.  We got the house in order and then took another stroll around Old City.  Before the party got going we had to take a little car ride to South Philly to sample cheese steaks at Geno’s and Pat’s.  These two Philly cheese steak rivals have been going at it for years, and it's something you have to do when you visit the city.  Just know what you're going to order beforehand so you don't get yelled at.  Tag and Missy were well versed in the lingo and we split up our orders so we could all sample both… I ended up being a Geno’s guy for the bread and cuts of meat although I think everyone else was a bigger fan of Pat’s.  (makes me want a cheese steak right now...)

Musical Chairs Flip Cup

I met a lot of Tag and Missy’s friends at the party and introduced them to Musical Chairs Flip Cup. I figured that they would appreciate it, considering Flip-Flip-Flip-adelphia.  After the party wound down I went with one of their friends to an after party at the Racket Club of Philadelphia.  I’ve never been to a racquet club before, but it seemed like a country club in the city.  Walking in, it felt like a very blue blood, old money place to hang out.  I could see old guys with cigars making some major business deals in that building.  Every wall was covered with black and white pictures of members posing in athletic attire and group shots.  Despite all of that, there were a bunch of young people in tuxedos playing beer pong – pretty random.  It was a very interesting place to end up late night but we didn’t stay long.

After a short night of sleep I caught a taxi in the morning to the bus station.  Instead of taking the train back to Connecticut, Tag recommended that I take the Megabus back to New York.  You could get there for $20 and it took about the same amount of time.  I would still have to cross Manhattan to get to Grand Central for a train back to Stamford, but it was cheaper and easier to do it that way.  I don’t feel like I got a FULL weekend doing things in Philly… seeing the Rocky statue close up, soaking in a little more history, etc. so I’ll have to come back for that.