The next morning, we took the first train from the airport into town. The ride was pretty eye opening seeing backyard after backyard of peoples house, mostly with broken cars, tires, trash…I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. On the contrary, I noticed the brilliant and artistic graffiti around the underpasses and the concrete walls. I soon caught on to a repeating name graffiti-ed on the wall of someone called Moose. Next to it would be a cartoon character that would have been associated with the name, it almost looked as if it would have been a character from the Gorillaz band.Once we arrived in downtown Philly we headed straight for the Independence National Historical Park. I don’t think you can go to this city and not see where our nation started. So much history everywhere you turn. From old Quaker Meeting houses to museum’s of the actual rooms that the constitution was signed to the Liberty Bell. Its was all there, after you actually see the Liberty Bell in person then you start to fathom how much that symbolic bell means to this country and to the world. After our walk around the district our tummies where screaming for food. Now, on this trip the plan was to eat a true philly cheesesteak sandwich. Not one from Arby’s or some imitator in North Carolina. Our destination was Jim’s Steaks, operating for over 60 years this place attracts the typical tourist to sink his or her teeth into a yummy sandwich of whiz cheese and sliced western steak meat. We knew we spotted the right place because Jim’s Steak was notorious for having a line wrapped around the corner from the entrance. After waiting what seemed like an eternity, I finally made it from around the corner, into the restaurant, through 3 zigzagging lines and up to the cook. This is where you yell out what you want, cheese whiz or no cheese whiz, meat then your choice of toppings… onions (my favorite), mushrooms or peppers. There’s a eating record that was broke this year for someone eating 11 sandwiches in 1 1/2 hours. No thanks…I don’t want to bust a gut. I just hope after that person broke the record they didn’t have to pay for the sandwiches.

After lunch we jumped on a bus to head to the North West side of Philly to visit the Eastern State Penitentiary. Once used back as early as 1829, this was the first true penitentiary in that every inmate lived in complete solitude. Inspired by the Quakers, they believed being in total solitude would make an inmake more apt to change his/her life spiritually rather than feeling punished. This place looked as if it was a castle dating back to the medieval times. All excited about all this, we made it to the entrance only to find out it is open from April to November, just one week too early. Nice…..From there headed back into town and had dinner at an incredible Cuban restaurant called Cuba Libre. Go there if you ever visit Philly! Afterwards we had to say goodbye to our cousin Ashley at the train station before we headed back to our hotel.

Meanwhile the Snow Patrol concert had already started….but we had some time to spare since there where two bands opening. Driving through the chaotic intertwining roads of Jersey we finally made it to the show. We had time just to buy some concert shirts just as they went up on stage. For the rest of the night, being entertained by these 5 irish guys in Camden New Jersy by far was the coolest thing. By the way, the lead singer made an interesting fact about Camden and their original hometown of Glasgow, Scotland. They are both crime capitols of their countries. HAH! It’s been awhile since I’ve been to a loud crowded concert event. Forgetting ear plugs was something not smart but hey, whats losing some more hairs in your ear….right?

We drove home the next day back to homebase but I by far had a great golden year birthday. This weekend consisted of spending Q.T. with the sis, seeing my cousin and an old friend from college…but also seeing a cool band that I love to hear…Snow Patrol, not to be confused with Snow Plow as someone mistakenly thought their name was. =)Thanks SIS!