So as we are casually cruising along interstate 91 in our roundabout way of our itinerary, I turn to ask Nathan, who has so far in 3 days driven almost 1000 miles, “do your knees hurt when you drive for long periods of time?” He replied with no to which I said that mine do. “We’ll you’re old, maybe you have arthritis in your knees…”

Thanks babe that’s the last time I feed you granola bars and kitkats whilst you’re driving. 

By the time we arrived at our “hotel” after dinner at Applebees, we had driven 503 miles across 5 states but then that’s our fault for going such a roundabout way round the states 😂. I am glad we survived the night…when we pulled up to the Knights Inn, Mount Laurel, it looked like something out of a horror movie where your average next door neighbour stalks his prey from and then eventually kills them! Still, the bed was comfty and the shower worked, that is all we need 😊. 

We are getting good at this getting up early malarkey! We were out by 730am today ready to venture into Philadelphia! We haven’t quite mastered parking in the big cities yet so we ended up parking in a garage underground right in the very centre! It’s ok though because if you enter before 9am like we did, it’s only $16!! Whoops! Second time we have been stung on parking! 

The sun was beaming down, sunglasses on, legs out, we were ready to rock and roll! The sheer size of the buildings was immense! And some of the architecture was stunning!

As we exited the parking lot, we aimed to walk towards the “Rocky Steps” despite the fact it was taken over by the NFL draft. As we started walking I saw a sign for the Liberty One Observation Deck which was due to open in about half hour! Great! I checked to see if it was included in our Philadelphia Pass…it was! “I have left the passes in the car.” 
We had already been walking for about half an hour…whoops! 

We went to retrieve them and it turned out to be a good thing because we swapped my bag for the bumbag! What a good invention! And it meant that I didn’t have to carry anything hehe! Once sorted, we then continued our trek to the steps. And that journey kept going and going and going. It was admittedly, a really nice walk trying to also find shade, because, us being the clever people you all know us to be, forgot one key element today. Bearing in mind it was 29 degrees, not a cloud in the sky with no breeze, clearly the thought of getting sunburnt was more appealing than lathering up with suncream….the result…I could probably get into red lobster for free, but I call it my base tan…Mum did say the best way to get an all over tan is to walk around! I was just doing as I am told 😊

I don’t think I have seen such crystal clear blue water in a fountain before! I have definitely fallen in love with Philadelphia! When we realised that we couldn’t get to the steps and that the NFL draft didn’t open until 12 we decided to walk all the way back in the other direction to the National Constitution Centre and Independence Hall, not before visiting the portaloo on the sidewalk! Squatting over a hole, no flush, no sinks! Felt like a proper festival goer! The police in New York and Lexington were much more friendly than in Philadelphia. I mean if a tourist walked up to you, (and I mean you could tell we were tourists because we had minimal clothing on compared to the locals who were in heels/jackets/jeans/boots, and were still sweating!!) and asked if he could take a photo of his duck on your bike, surely you’d oblige? Not in this case sadly. We think he was just comfortable and could be bothered to move!

I love a bit of history. Managed to get a glimpse of Benjamin Franklin’s grave but it was being renovated, so we got a $1 discount into the graveyard!!!! Yes we had to pay to enter a graveyard!! Full of people who signed the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution but still, what if I had a family member in there? Would they make me pay the $7 for the audio tour?

The NFL experience had opened so we ventured all the way back and went in! It was free! And no queues to get in. Extremely well organised! 
I’m now officially a New York Jets fan as I bought a top because I liked it. #properfan and Nathan is a Cincinnati Bengals fan because he liked the colours. #truesportsfans. Kind of how I picked my first wine though…I liked the label. 😂 I think the bar is the only place I have ever seen wine cheaper than beer. $9 for wine, $12 for beer! Good time to be a wino! 
The whole atmosphere was just awesome with all the stands and stalls everywhere I can see it being a great afternoon/evening…if you weren’t already sunburnt and really thirsty! After we did the rounds we began the journey back to the car. By this time, we he walked 10 miles, not eaten and I was so hot and sweaty I think you could actually make a salt shaker if you scraped my body!! 

On that note, we’re heading to Gettysburg

Till next time…

P.s Steve, hope there’s no spelling mistakes this time 😊