Yesterday I took a road trip with my friends Karen and Christopher to Philadelphia, PA. First we stopped at the site of the famous Philly Cheesesteak rivalry. Pat's and Gino's are right across the street from one another and they serve the sandwiches that Philly is famous for. But there's a catch. You have to order correctly. You can't just walk up and start in on a detailed, complicated order. They will send you to the back of the line and make you re-order. This isn't Starbucks. An acceptable order would go like this "Steak Whiz Wit" and that's it. The steak part indicates that you want the steak instead of a pork sandwich, or some other kind of sandwich. The whiz part indicates you want cheese whiz vs. American vs. provolone. You only have 3 choices. The Wit part indicates you want it with onions. I'm not sure if the wit or whiz comes first in the order, but whatever. The men working these stands are no joke. They are burly and tattoo-covered. And if you mess around they will send you to the back of the line. And the line is really long, so you don't want that. I liked Gino's better, and I like the whiz better than American cheese.
Next stop was Liberty Bell. It was beautiful, but smaller than I imagined. I like looking at old things and thinking about what life was like back then. Philadelphia is a very old place. There were buildings with dates on them that made me have to stop and think about what was going on in history at that point in time. The last picture in my set (see above) shows a store front downtown that you can tell is very old. I like the ornate old wooden and stone decorations on the buildings. There was even a building with these words carved out above its doorway, "Hats trimmed free of charge" or something like that. I enjoyed the trip, and I hope I can go back one day with more knowledge of historical sites. There is a ghost tour there that I think would be phenomenal. Future road trip!
