Philly!

If you thought that Philadelphia was just a fleeting stop over on our journey to New York, you would be right.  But boy was I glad that we had a day there. Unknown to me at the time, Philadelphia was home to several major historical events in early American history and was the original capital of the United States from 1790 until 1800.  It was also where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1766 and home to the Liberty Bell.  The history of Philadelphia is ever present in the old town which is laid out with cobblestones and alight with lanterns.

We arrived in Philly after a two hour train ride which took us through Delaware and Maryland. We were staying at the Crown Plaza which was certainly a step up from our hostel accommodation in D.C and New Orleans. After checking in and unpacking our belongings, we were ready to have a look around and scope the place out. It was at this point that Nicole chose to tell me that Philadelphia was apparently the murder capital of Amercia. Yup that’s right- apparently Philadelphia has a horrific crime rate. Not something that I needed to hear given my already highly strung personality.

Funnily enough though, Nicole wasn’t far from the truth in what she said. Philadelphia has a large crime rate and the locals cautioned us in wandering around. Even the hotel welcome guide gave us a list of security measures to take.

Result? We went out the first night with little money, little jewellery and a lot of paranoia. We walked three or four blocks and then found a typical (and our soon to be local) diner for dinner. We returned there the next day for both breakfast and lunch- purely because it was close, safe and just so darn cute.

The next morning we woke up early and went to see the liberty bell. We also took a tour of the Independence Hall and explored the old city. It was lovely. Our train for New York was leaving that afternoon so we quickly tried to see as much of Philadelphia as possible. All in all it was a fun 24 hours and I did not witness one crime.