Philadelphia

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in City Center. We arrived late on the third, tired and a little unsure of what we'd gotten ourselves into--the truck barely fit the streets and parking garages of Philly.

The next morning we walked to Independence Hall. There were flags on every corner, and the whole city felt like it was ready to throw a big party. It was hot and crowded, and it took us about two hours to get through, but it was nice to be there on that very special day.

The big parade, meant to be the largest in the country for the 250th, was set for the third, but the heat ended up cancelling it. We caught just a little of the beginning in front of Independence Hall, where some of the acts came and performed, and that was about it.

With the day still ahead of us, we found some unexpected adventures. We went to the US Mint, which was open on the fourth because it had been closed on the third for the federal holiday. The machines weren't running, but it was nice to walk through and see it from the catwalk, and they gave us a commemorative 250th quarter as a souvenir. A block away we found the Federal Reserve Bank and toured its brand-new museum. They had spent eight years redoing the exhibits and reopened them in June for the 250th, and one of the curators walked us around telling stories about how everything was acquired and restored. It was really cool. I had no idea the Reserve had such a nice exhibit.

We also walked through the old downtown and Elfreth's Alley, which has the oldest inhabited homes in Philadelphia and is super cute. On the third we spent the evening down at the harbor, on the opposite side from where the fireworks were meant to be. It has a lit-up public park with couches along the pier, so we could sit and enjoy the breeze, some food, and live music. It sits right across the water from the Camden Aquarium.

On the fourth we had our cheesesteaks. Angelo's, which people told us was the best, was very good, with handmade bread, a crusty sesame-seed crust and Cooper cheese. We also tried Geno's, of the famous rivalry, which the locals say is really a tourist thing, but we had to try it with whiz. It wasn't as good as Angelo's, but it was pretty good. We'd eat them both.

The rest of the fourth didn't go as planned. We had free FIFA FanFest tickets for five o'clock to watch the last World Cup game in Philadelphia, France versus Morocco, in a park, but it was so hot we ended up not going. The free concert down by the Art Museum started at 6pm and was meant to lead into fireworks at midnight, but about an hour and a half in they evacuated everyone ahead of rainstorms. The storms hit, and the concert didn't resume until half past twelve. After the Roots played their set, the fireworks were pushed to around one thirty or two in the morning, and we didn't stay up for them because we had to drive back the next day.

So there was no parade and no fireworks, but we saw Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, and plenty we hadn't expected. Between the Franklin Institute, the aquarium and a few other things we didn't get to, we've decided we underestimated Philadelphia and will have to come back for another long weekend to catch everything we missed. Philadelphia gave us a good start.