James & Charlotte's Travel Blog: "Oh brother are you going to leave me wastin' away, on the streets of Philadelphia" Bruce Springsteen

Tuesday 25th April

Finally, we had come to a day where our transport wasn't departing at stupid o'clock. This meant we could wake up at a decent time, make the most of breakfast by eating 3 bagels and a muffin in my case and a bagel, a bowl of cereal and a muffin in Charlotte's, and then have time to relax afterwards and pack with no real rush. In the end it probably would have been beneficial to rush as during the half an hour walk to the bus station, it started raining. Despite all the time we took, we were still an hour early for our bus but were fortunate when it showed up early and the ticket checker was willing to let us on early to get out of the cold. By the time we departed the station, it was pouring down and it didn't slow for the entire journey. When we arrived in Philadelphia, we were dumped at a roadside, somewhere near the train station. We had to find our way to the nearby metro station, where we caught a rather expensive train to a stop that was considerably closer to the hostel. Despite having been to Philly before and even having stayed in the same hostel as we were this time, I still managed to get us a tiny bit lost but it was nothing a quick look on google maps couldn't solve. We ducked out of the rain and into the hostel, for once at a time where we could check into the room immediately. We were a bit surprised by how cheap it was when we paid, but we decided not to say anything about it, just incase something was going our way for once. It wasn't, when we got to the room we were in a 16 bed dorm, despite having booked a 6 bed dorm. It was fine, because we guessed we hadn't been charged for a 6 bed but we went back to the reception to double check we were in the right place. We were informed that the 6 bed dorm we had booked about 3 months beforehand wasn't actually ready yet and we'd been put in a 16 instead because that is what they had. We were a bit annoyed at not having been told this when we checked in but we let it slide, as it had probably saved us about $60; plus, complaining wouldn't have got us anywhere anyway. Another problem was that the female bathroom was in the room, yet the male one was down some stairs and down a hallway, which seemed a bit inconvenient but again, what could we do? We had plans for our evening for once, so once we were settled we got freshened up and headed out in to the miserable weather. What's funny is that it was raining last time I was in Philly and it didn't really look like it had even stopped in the 8 years that had passed. We walked about 25 minutes to a metro station that would hopefully contain the train that would take us to the Philadelphia Phillies baseball stadium. The metro seemed unnecessarily complicated with no signposts but eventually, after stealing 50 cents off of us, a lady sat in a booth stuffing her face did help us out. We had bought our tokens from her for $4.50 and for whatever reason, she refused to give us back the change from our 5 dollar note. She managed to in the end but it seemed weird why she wouldn't in the first place. We had further complications on the train when the first one we got on terminated at the very next station and then there were no announcements, so we had to keep a keen eye out for our stop. We did make it though and the stadium, with its floodlights cutting through the gloom, was very easy to get to. We were sceptical about whether the game would actually go ahead due to the weather but there were a few diehards around, which made us think it would. We picked up our tickets from the will call booth and headed in. Before finding our seats, we picked ourselves up a hotdog each, which we'd actually been looking forward to more than the actual game. After a short struggle to find our block, we stood at the top, under cover, so we could eat our hot dogs without getting soaked to the bone. Our hotdogs were already slightly wet and cold after the long walk but we wolfed them down pretty hastily and did enjoy them. It was still quite early, so we hung around under the shelter of the stand to wait for either play to begin at 7 or play to be cancelled. The cancellation came first, at about 20 to 7. We were very disappointed but you just can't control the weather. When the steward told us it was cancelled, we enquired about a refund but she wasn't sure we would get it. They were more inclined to reschedule the game or swap the tickets to a different game. We decided to try our luck at the ticket office and stress that we were tourists who wouldn't be able to attend another game. We were surprised when he was happy to give us the refund. It was a shame to miss the game but we got $50 back, which wasn't bad. Unfortunately, it had cost us almost 10 dollars on tube fares to get there. We headed back to the metro station and hopped back on a train to the city centre and returned to the hostel. The weather had destroyed our evening plans, so we simply relaxed in the hostel and, despite our earlier hotdog, had some more of our sack of rice for dinner.

Wednesday 26th April

There was no free breakfast in the hostel we were staying in, so we really pushed the boat out and lazed in bed until almost 9. We did have to get up at some point though and after breakfast, we headed out, relieved to see that the rain had actually managed to stop. We decided to head to the furthest place we wanted to see, which was located at the Philadelphia museum of art. The museum was about a 50 minute walk from the hostel but after about half an hour, we hit a bit of a snag. There was loads of things being set up between us and the museum that restricted us from getting to where we wanted to be. It was all to do with American Football and we only managed to get so far before we were stopped as we didn't have accreditation. We didn't like where this was going but we were told we could access the museum from a side road that would take us round the back. The only problem was that we weren't there to visit the museum, it was the steps that led up to the front door we, or more accurately I, were interested in. They were made famous by Sylvester Stallone running up them in the film Rocky but it didn't look like we were going to be getting anywhere near them, let alone to run up them. We made it round to the rear entrance of the museum and asked at the reception but we were only told what we had already worked out. For a moment we considered being cultural and actually visiting the museum for its original purpose but at $20 a ticket, we didn't bother. It was yet another downer but just something else we had to get over. We walked back towards town, desperately hoping that lunch would cheer us up a bit. Seeing as we're in Philly, it had to be a Philadelphia Cheesesteak sandwich for lunch and as if luck would have it, there was a highly rated sandwich shop just at the end of the road our hostel was on. Our luck didn't end there either, as we walked in the door at bang on 12, just beating the start of the lunchtime rush. We ordered our cheesesteaks in the local style of beef (meat obviously) with (with onions) provolone (the type of cheese). We picked up a side of chips and a drink each and took our seats. Our order was called within minutes and we tucked in. We were so hungry, we couldn't be bothered to go up to the counter and complain about the forgotten onions. Just as we started to eat, the shop filled out from a huge school group all wanting to order their sandwiches at the same time, so we took our time eating, just so we didn't have to surrender our seat. After lunch, it was time to actually do a bit of sightseeing. Our first stop was in Independence square, where we made the most of the free entry to see the Liberty Bell. The was only a short queue, which was a bonus and we were in the building in no time. The first part of the room was made up of a series of boards explaining the history of the bell, what it was used for and how it got its iconic crack. Before visiting, I'd received a message from my mum, claiming that a potential relative, William Hurry, was the man who rung the bell to signal America’s independence. Unfortunately, I have to dispel that myth slightly, as we read that there is no evidence to suggest that it was rung when independence was announced on the 4th July 1776 however, William Hurry did ring it to mark the reading of the Declaration of Independence, 4 days later on the 8th July 1776. It didn't actually say his name either but we found out it was William Hurry later on in the day, which I'll explain later. After the information boards came the bell itself and its safe to say it was considerably smaller than we'd imagined it. It was still good to see though and the crack was clearly visible on the front of the bell. We made our way through the baying mob and managed to get a couple of photos of the bell, before leaving them to their selfies of every possible combination possible. Apparently, you haven't had your selfie until you've had one with your baby sitting on your shoulder. After the bell, we decided to do something a little bit different and also something that you can only do in 2 cities across the USA. Philly being one obviously and Denver the other, and that was to go and visit the fully operational US mint. It was on the same street as independence square but one block further up, so it only took us 5 minutes to walk there. As with all US government buildings, galleries, tourist attractions and, probably, McDonalds, we were ID’d and had our bags scanned before entering. The bottom 2 levels of the mint contained various commemorative coins and medals that had been minted over the years, as well as historical notes of when coins were released and so on. The top floor was the highlight though, as we were taken through every step that was involved in minting all the coins that are in circulation. Unfortunately, we were unable to take photos and there was far too much information to commit to memory, so you'll just have to take our word for it. As we read all the boards, they were punctuated by windows looking down in to the mint floor where we could see huge rolls of copper that were being fed through machines in order to be made into pennies. We could see some of the processes but mostly just the machines that the coins were inside. It was a pleasant way to spend an hour on a cloudy afternoon in Philadelphia. Afterwards, we tried our luck at getting tickets to a tour of the Independence Hall, which is where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where William Hurry rung his bell. We'd dropped the ball though, as we needed to pre book and tours were fully booked for the day. It was unfortunate but we consoled ourselves by getting an ice cream from a nearby shop called the Franklin Fountain. It was an expensive tat but the scoops we got made it pretty worth while. After our ice cream, we decided to call it a day and we headed back to the hostel. Whilst we were relaxing in our room, I was writing the blog and doing some research on William Hurry and found out that he was buried in the Old Pine Presbyterian Church Cemetery, which was only a 10 minute walk from our hostel. On a whim, I decided we would go and hunt down his grave in order to kill some time before dinner. We found the church easily enough but the graved proved slightly harder. When you're looking for a grave in place that made up of tightly packed graves, it isn't the easiest thing. We did a couple of round and came up empty handed. On our final look round, Charlotte walked up a path that we hadn't looked at yet, Charlotte found him, complete with his own 13 starred US flag and plaque describing his role during the war for independence. The plaque is how we found out the information regarding the ringing of the bell on the 8th and not necessarily the 4th. We were pleased with our find and, if he is a relative, it seemed a nice touch that we could hunt him down to his resting place. We were ready for our triumphant return but were stopped in our tracks by a locked gate. We tried every other gate in the Cemetary but found all of them locked. We'd passed the guard with his bunch of keys but he never said anything about the Cemetery closing at any particular time, so it was a bit weird that he'd managed to lock all of the gates without us noticing. It was also pretty creepy to be locked in a Cemetery. Furthermore, there was a group of people in the locked church, sat in a circle, who were clearly undertaking some form of ritual before coming out to abduct us and then burn us like in The Wicker Man. We tried each gate a few times but always came up against a padlock. We eventually gave in and knocked on a door of an adjacent building, where a heavily bearded African American gentleman came and answered the door. He seemed incredibly sceptical that we would have been locked in the cemetery, which probably meant he thought we were trespassing. He still came out, with his own bunch of keys, to let us out a gate. Only, when he got to the gate, he just pulled it open without touching a padlock. That was even weirder because that gate had been the one we'd tried to get in in the first place and it had been locked from the start. We thanked him and left, feeling a little bit stupid. When we got back to the hostel, dinner time was fast approaching and for once, we weren't cooking. The hostel were putting on their weekly free pasta dinner tonight, so we had signed ourselves up. We'd picked a good Wednesday to be there too, as an American family were on their annual visit and they always contributed to the free pasta dinner. This time they'd prepared a salad, with some bread and garlic butter and for pudding, they'd rustled up a number of key lime pies. It all went down pretty well with us and didn't cost us a penny. We thanked them for their contribution before heading to our room to get packed and washed before getting back to the ludicrously early starts.