Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the USA's fifth largest city and the birthplace of the republic as it is today.  After the American Revolution, the Declaration Of Independence was signed here in 1776 and for a short time, Philly was the nation's capital.

Eventually New York emerged as the economic centre and the country's political power migrated to Washington DC.  That left Philadelphia with a bit of an identity crisis, which no doubt helped to inspire the lively cultural mix that can be seen in the city today.

In our travels so far we've visited many coastal and country towns and encountered several people who seem to own more land than they know what to do with.  Visiting Philadelphia gave us our first taste of the built-up, inner city vibe that we're more accustomed to in the UK, where space is at a premium.

In that sense we felt quite at home as we arrived, then again back home I probably wouldn't be thinking about claiming 4 parking spaces at the local supermarket as my digs for the night.

Parking in such places often means there are public transport links nearby, offering us virtually door-to-door service when we venture out for the day / night.  We found the nearest bus stop and simply got on the next one that arrived, clueless about whether we needed to change buses at any point, and where we needed to get off.

This led to our first exposure to the sheer friendliness of this city.  Here's a quick comparison of a couple of scenarios, to give you an idea of the differences between the average big UK city and Philadelphia, based on things that happened to us while we were there:

1.  You get on the bus, didn't realise it doesn't give change and are a few dollars / pounds short on the fare:

UK - "Not my problem mate" *door slams in face*
Philly - "Don't worry about it, just put in what you have"

2.  You take a look around the bus once you've sat down:

UK - Everyone is staring straight ahead or at their feet, as if any eye contact with another passenger will result in a voodoo curse befalling their entire family
Philly - People are having friendly conversations which are joined by other random passengers.  Also, the driver has friendly banter with most people who get on the bus.

3.  You're wandering around, looking lost, trying to figure out the way to somewhere

UK - People tut as they bustle past you, visibly annoyed at your failure to realise that you are lingering on a square of pavement that they apparently own but haven't got round to writing their name on yet
Philly - A random guy sees you're lost, chats to you for a while and then tells you about the shuttle bus that runs exclusively for his apartment building, which will take you where you want to go and you'll get away with using if you tell the driver you're visiting him.

You get the idea.  People genuinely seem to love living and working here.  We got chatting to an ex-military guy at a bar who was working towards opening a restaurant and was enthusiastic about Philly's vibrant food and drink culture.  He pointed us in the direction of some excellent eateries and suggested some great, locally brewed real ales.  In exchange, it was only fair that I opened his eyes to some quintessentially British culture, so I explained 2 concepts that he was previously unfamiliar with:  Chavs and vajazzles.  He seemed pretty intrigued by the latter, so I'm guessing I'm not too popular with his girlfriend about now.

Many of the best restaurants in Philadelphia are grouped together in the same district, making it a great place to head out for dinner and simply meander around, working up an appetite before making a final decision.  All cuisines are catered for and most of the restaurants had some kind of outdoor seating on the street, promoting the relaxed atmosphere and adding to the temptation as you walk past.

You can't go to Philadelphia without sampling its famous Philly cheese steak, so our stop for lunch was the apparently world-renowned Sonny's, an unassuming place serving a couple of variations of the classic (plus a sideline in t shirts and other merchandise).  Very tasty and because, unusually, it didn't come with enough fries to cause the onset of another potato famine, we were able to do some walking again pretty soon afterwards.

Neither of us are history buffs, so we admired the city's cultural landmarks from the outside.  If that's your thing though, there are plenty of tours which will give you more detail about all of them, including Independence Hall, where the Constitution was formulated and signed, and the Liberty Bell, the iconic symbol of American independence.

The bell hasn't been rung since 1846 for fear of destroying it; it already features several cracks which can be blamed on the brittle materials used to make it.  The first crack happened the very first time it was rung, so the build quality is roughly the same standard as our RV I would say.

A bit of shopping, more food and more drink rounded off our first day in the Philly area nicely.  Unfortunately the one thing we didn't find was the Art Museum, with its huge flight of steps which Sylvester Stallone ran up in Rocky.  To be fair after a few beers I would have probably ran up them yelling "Adriaaaaaaan!!" all the way so perhaps it's for the best.