Hey peeps! This past weekend my friend and I took a trip to Philadelphia! I had never been to Philadelphia before, so, my goal was to see and do as much as we could. Since we were there for only 3 full days I was up for a challenge! Check out below to see what we did each day.
Friday: Travel Day
Friday we arrived in Philadelphia at about 7:30 PM local time. We called an Uber from the airport then checked into our VRBO! We took this direct flight on American through XNA only about 3.5 hours not bad at all!
Check out the VRBO we stayed at here. Overall we enjoyed our stay at this 2 bedroom apartment, but there were a few things that we wished we would have known going into it.
After checking in to the VRBO we decided to head to a nice dinner at Del Frisco’s for our first night! Kaleigh and I had both decided that we at least wanted to “treat” ourselves one night on our trip! I had their Filet Mignon special and it was AH-MAZING! Kaleigh had their Filet Medallions and she said that was great as well! We split the Duck Confit Meatballs for an appetizer and each had a glass of wine. All the things we tried were awesome! To top it off the waiter gave us a free dessert sampling! Overall great experience! What made it even cooler is this restaurant is in an old bank! The downstairs area still has the vault and you can even eat in it!
Saturday: Touristy Day
Saturday started EARLY! We decided that since Saturday was the day that we had the most time to explore we should make the most of it! Man did we ever!
We started out for breakfast at the Reading Terminal Market. That place was so over the top and so cool. There was food everywhere! We decided on a little diner type restaurant for breakfast called Down Home Diner it was soo good and one of the most “affordable” meals we had all weekend!
Next up exploring Old City! The first tip here is that Independence Hall tours should be booked at least a day in advance online unless you want to go on a rainy day. We learned that lesson! So Independence Hall was postponed until Sunday! But we did get to explore a lot more…
The Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell was removed from Independence Hall many years ago, but when they removed it, they created a really cool museum that you walk through before you get to the bell. It highlights the ways that our country has evolved and given liberty to not only the Americans that wanted freedom, but for the American men and women that were enslaved and the women that had a desire to vote and voice their opinion. It was really really cool and I loved every second of it!
Declaration House
The fun thing about walking around Philadelphia is that you encounter really old stuff by just walking down the street. This was one of those times! The Declaration House was closed for construction, but it was cool to look at it!
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution
This park contains the unknown soldiers that died during the American Revolution. This is an awesome war memorial that has a flame 24/7. Being here was very solemn and a great reminder of those who have died for our freedom, even from the beginning.
Carpenter’s Hall
Carpenter’s Hall was probably one of my favorite stops of the day! This was the home of the first Continental Congress and also has a display of The Carpenter’s Company members. Those of you who know me, know that I am in commercial construction, and this hall had displays of how the hall was built out of just wood and the tools they used to build it. I was obsessed and fascinated!
We also checked out the New Hall on our way to the US Mint!
The United States Mint
The US Mint was closed but we decided to stop by and take some pictures! I would love to go back and check it out if I was ever in town again!
While we were on this side of town, we also stopped by Benjamin Franklin’s gravestone. You can pay to see it and other graves of signers of the Declaration of Independence or you can just hang outside the gates and see his. We chose the free options. Many people bring pennies to his grave and leave them as a token of good luck!
The Betsy Ross House
Betsy Ross was an absolutely awesome person! Not only did she sew the first flag but she was crazy talented in upholstery! She made her mark on history for women many generations to come, but she also faced multiple trials in life. She was a widow twice before she was even 35 years old. Could you even imagine that?
Elfreth’s Alley
The oldest residential road in the country and super cool! Some of these houses actually date back to 1702! I was obsessed with all of the cute colors and old bricks of each house. Each one was so unique! A definitely must see when you are in Philadelphia. They were advertising a Christmas open house that looked cool while we were there. You would get to tour the houses and see all of the Christmas lights!
After some much needed Starbucks and refreshment deserts from a super cute local place called Tartes we headed back to our VRBO to get ready for dinner!
Saturday Night Dinner: Philadelphia’s Chinatown
Saturday night we decided to try out the Philadelphia Chinatown district! The place we decided to go to was called Tai Lake Restaurant it was really good and they are known for their seafood! It is extremely fresh! They actually have tanks in their entry way full of eel, lobster, crab, shrimp, etc that they use for meals ordered throughout the night! Their egg drop soup was by far my favorite thing though!!
Sunday: Semi Touristy Day
Sunday was the first day of the conference for Kaleigh, so we had a semi-touristy day! We started at Independence Hall first since we couldn’t do it on Saturday, then we set off to find a Philly Cheese steak!
We went to Sonny’s for the Philly Cheese steak and we were not disappointed! Got it with pepper jack cheese, vegetables and fries! Their fries were also top notch! Better get here when they open though because the line gets long FAST! Then while we were in the area we decided to go check out Christ Church, which is where George Washington actually went to church and we also saw Penn’s Landing. It was amazing what was all within those few little blocks. Fun fact Christ Church is still an active church today and has church services open to the public to attend!
The Philadelphia Museum of Art
After lunch, I was on my own while Kaleigh attended her conference so I decided to finish up a book that I had started on the plane ride over, then head to the Philadelphia Museum of Art! I was amazed at all of the different collections they had. I actually spent at least 30 minutes just looking at the plate collection they had on display from the different presidencies! They also had some of my favorite Monet paintings on display so this was a real treat for me! What I did find funny was that a lot of people like to “come” to the museum but not to actually go in it! Lots of people were lined up outside to take a picture with the Rocky statue! Gotta love those movie classics!
After the museum, I decided to take a stroll down Boathouse Row. It was super neat seeing all of the boats. They had a competition that day so people were still out on the water! In the South rowing is not a common sport as it is in the Northeast, so that was something new to experience.
The Victor Cafe
After searching the food suggestions on Pinterest for what seemed like forever, we decided on a little Italian place in Little Italy called The Victor Cafe! Man were we in for a treat! All of the staff at this restaurant are trained in Opera singing and they perform during your meal every 15-20 minutes. It was so so cool! Then after your dinner, you need to definitely check out their upstairs lounge area. It is so cool and we had the best time hanging up there and actually getting to know the staff after they got off of their shifts!
Monday: Last Day
Our last day in Philadelphia we both worked in the morning, but once we were done we decided to go explore a little more of the city and grab some brunch!
Green Eggs Cafe
The brunch was awesome! This restaurant was cash only, which seemed to be super common in Philadelphia, but they had an ATM inside. We had such a great time people watching and eating all of the great food!
Philadelphia City Hall
The Philadelphia City Hall is a work of art. Literally every nook and cranny is absolutely breathtaking! We had been looking for a way to see the city from an observatory deck or some rooftop bar that we could see the whole city from, so we were super excited to learn that you can actually go to the top of City Hall and see the whole city and over to New Jersey! We were the only people up there and it was so so cool! The best-kept secret of Philadelphia for sure.
We also made a stop by the “Love” Sculpture for some pictures and headed to the first US Postal Office in the entire country! For just 90 cents you can get a history brochure sent anywhere in the US and stamped with their special postmark! I received it in the mail about 4 days after and it was so cool! A great keepsake for your scrapbook if you are into that sort of thing!
Bud & Marilyn’s
After reading multiple suggestions to eat at Bud & Marilyn’s we decided to eat here for our last night in Philadelphia! They are known for their Cheese Curds, so we had that and a salmon entree. We had more than enough food between the two of us and left with full tummies! Great dinner to have on our last night!
The Franklin Bar
After dinner, we decided to cap the night off by heading to a cool speakeasy called The Franklin Bar their drinks were so unique and made by the coolest mixologists! I would highly suggest checking it out! The building isn’t marked but there is a bouncer that stands at the street. You can either go upstairs or downstairs! The upstairs is a Tequila bar and the downstairs doesn’t have a certain alcohol theme!
Tuesday: Flights Home
Tuesday was the day we were flying on home so we decided to stop and get some lunch at Loco Pez. Surprising enough to us we were able to find authentic Mexican food in Philadelphia but we did! The burritos we had were huge and they were delicious!
All in all, we had a great trip! I think that both of us were exhausted by the time that we got back just because we didn’t stop going the whole time we were there. We wouldn’t have had it any other way! I hope you guys enjoyed this exhaustive post all about what we did!
