Europe Part 1 - Philadelphia Layover - May 11, 2008

Below are just some of the photos from this part. See all of them with high-res versions at Flickr.

20 Philadelphia photos - CLICK HERE.



So obviously this isn't Europe. Consider this the warm-up I guess. I had a layover in Philadelphia, so I intentionally took an earlier flight there so I could have a little time in the city. A SEPTA train line runs from the airport into the city.



A lot of Philadelphia is pretty ugly, but the historic area downtown is nice.



I only had around two hours in the city, but that was at least enough time to quickly walk to South Street and Jim's Steaks. Supposedly this was a better choice than the more famous places down the street.



DELICIOUS, even in retrospect after eating in Europe for two and a half weeks. It really doesn't make any logical sense. It's just grilled steak, grilled onions, and cheese wiz on a bun. But, for some reason, it really IS better here.



They've got horse draw carriages and all of that touristy stuff.



After the cheesesteak, I had time to go over to Independence Square. Here's the John Barry statue and Independence Hall.



I'm not sure how you actually get around these ropes; they were all around the exterior of the building and cops were stopping anyone who came across without coming through a certain entrance. I'm assuming it involves paying some sort of money.



Here's a panoramic look of the square (check it out on Flickr).



A good example of the mixture of old and new in Philadelphia.



It was free to see the Liberty Bell, although the security guy was pretty annoyed at having to search my entire backpack (with enough stuff to travel for 3 weeks). It was interesting, I suppose.



They have a really nice visitors center near Independence Hall. There's not much of a point to it, of course, except for nice restrooms and gift shops to draw people into.



I think this may be City Hall. I didn't have time to go far or see much. After this, it was time to hurry back to Market Street Station to catch the train back to the airport.



It was a brief stop, but at least I can say I have been to Philadelphia now (very important). Now, moving on to the real stuff. This is the first of what will likely be twelve parts of trip reports from my trip. Here's the plan:

1 - Philadelphia
2 - Parc Asterix
3 - Ireland
4 - Germany
5 - Europa Park
6 - Switzerland
7 - Italy
8 - Tibidabo
9 - Port Aventura
10 - Barcelona
11 - Disneyland Paris
12 - Paris


Next Up - Parc Asterix



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