The District Darling: Philadelphia

The first stop on the Lyles roadtrip was none other than Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I had been twice before but it had been years since my last visit and John had never been. So, we were excited to see what the city had to offer. We started the day by doing what every Philly tourist should do by paying a trip to the Liberty Bell. The bell is housed in a large viewing hall with lots of information posted about the history of the bell and it's symbolism in American culture today. It was quite a site to see a piece of American history so close to touch.

Afterwards, we walked across the street to see Independence Hall. The tour is free (as was the Liberty Bell), but since the tours are in such high demand, you must receive a ticket from the information desk to reserve your spot. The tour lasted around 30 minutes and featured an up close view of the interior of the hall. It was pretty powerful knowing that we were standing in the same room where the Declaration of Independence was signed over 200 years ago!

We had worked up quite an appetite after our morning on the road and mid morning tourist adventures. So, we jumped in the car and headed across town to Reading Terminal Market. The indoor market features tons of food venders serving up dishes ranging from seafood to baked goods. We chose to dine at the Dutch Eating Place and grab a cannoli for dessert from Termini Brothers.

Then we were on our way to South Philly to catch a glimpse of the Magic Garden. The mosaicked visionary art environment, gallery and community arts center is the work of Isaiah Zagar and is a true masterpiece. There is an admission price, but it's reasonable and more than worth it. It's a photographers dream with beautiful pieces of art to capture every where you look. We spent quite some time meandering through the maze of mosaics spotting hidden treasures along the way.

Next up on the list was Rittenhouse Square. While we didn't have a particular destination within the square on our itinerary, we did enjoy walking up and down the side-walked streets and looking at the historic homes. They were beautiful and mostly all of them were on the Philadelphia Historic Register.

That evening, we dined at Tony Luke's for the classic Philly staple, the Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. I found that if you asked around for the city's best cheesesteak, you would probably end up with more answers and opinions than you could handle. So, I used Urbanspoon to help make the call. The restaurant was located on the side of the road, not too far from an interstate underpass. I'm not going to lie, the neon signs and walk up ordering made me think that I had stepped into a county fair rather than a restaurant, but you know what? It was pretty good!

That evening, we walked around Old City District and paid a visit to Elfreth's Alley- one of the oldest streets in the nation. We then found our way to Franklin Fountain for a late night treat. The Fountain was super cute and was straight out of 1955.