Flashback: East Coast Roadtrip Pt. 4
As promised the next part of our journey led us straight to Baltimore. Granted, it is not as big a tourist magnet as D.C., Philly and New York which are all in the (distinct) vicinity but it has it's own laid back charm. We parked (for an insane amount of money) close to the harbour and had originally planned on visiting the aquarium. However, we couldn't gather up the will to pay almost 50 Dollars to see some fishes. Instead we took a stroll around town. So, let me take you along our tour.
As previously stated, we started at the harbour. Pier 5 to be exact. Then we made our way to the aquarium which is on Pier 3.
When our plans fell through we set up a crisis center in the closest Panera. If you don't know what Panera is you very likely haven't lived in the U.S. for a while. It is essentially a bakery that offers amazing lunch deals including great sandwiches and, most importantly, even greater soup. Which you can have in a bread bowl. And when I say bread, I mean real, actual sour dough bread. It is nowhere near original German bread but it is far better than anything else I've tried all year. Anyway, we stopped there a lot on the road. It beats the usual stops of McDonald's and KFC hands down. And have I mentioned you can have your soup in a braed bowl?
The crisis competency team decided to follow the water front and discover the city without a master plan. Scary thought, I admid (to me at least). But seeing as I was on a different continent an ocean away from home I agreed to be brave and head into the unkown. I might be a bit dramatic here. Maybe.
It ended up being a good idea as we saw much more of the city than we would have being stuck in an aquarium all day. We left Baltimore later that evening and drove to the outskirts of Philadelphia. Outskirts meaning King of Prussia. Now, I know most people associate it with the giant mall that makes up most of the town but to me it will always literally mean the king of Prussia. I'm from Berlin which used to be the capital of Prussia. The most important king we had was named Friedrich II. We have a statue of him in the centre of the market place where I grew up. King of Prussia might be one of the least European looking parts of America but somehow, strangely I still felt a bit like coming home.
On our first day, we had another lazy day taking full advantage of the mall and eating way more cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory than we should have. Naturally, this couldn't continue so on the next day (Day 8) we decided to do a roundtrip and discover the more rural parts of Pennsylvania. We got into the car and drove stopping at little farms along the way. This one is still kept like one of the original farms built by the early settlers.
Remember when I said there are no pictures proving K was doing the majority of the driving? Turns out somewhere in the thousands of frames that accumulated on my camera this little gem was hidden. Annoyingly, I felt very sick that day so after this top we took the long way back, not stopping anywhere else and I fell right into bed back at the hotel.
Next on our list was Philadelphia itself, the second largest city on the East Coast. The traffic sure lives up to the hype. It took forever and a few near-accidents to get to the parking garage. I almost couldn't appreciate the naming of the plains at the garage...almost.
And for all you Sherlock fans out there...we where very sad indeed that it was to early to get a pint. Especially, since K is such a Guiness fan.
Our first stop were the buildings surrounding Independence Hall. We were lucky and got entrance tickets from a family that did not want to wait for their assigned entry time. In the meantime we scooped out the place and introduced ourselves to the liberty bell.
During our tour we stumbled upon this beautiful little post office. I actually only wanted to send off a few postcards and did not expect to find it.
It doesn't look like much from the outside but inside it is a teeny tiny museum. The place still looks like it might have 200 years ago when Benjamin Franklin himself roamed the streets.
When it was time for us to visit Independence Hall we happily discovered that the tickets included a guided tour of the premises. So, ladies and gentlemen, this is where the Declaration of Independence was signed seperating all ties between America and the British Commonwealth.
Right next to it is the site of the first form of national Congress. It later moved all over the place before settling in Washington. The Constitution was adopted here in 1787.
Having had our fill of American history and the buildings it evolvoed in we went back Chestnut Street and then took the Benjamin Franklin Parkway all the way up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and those famous 'Rocky' steps.
Architicture wise Philadelphia was one of the most beautiful towns we saw during our whole trip. Some buildings were simply breathtaking.
As you can see here Benjamin Franklin Parkway was ranked on both sides by the flags of all member states of the United Nations. On our way to the Museum of Art we played a game of trying to name as many states before their name plagues were readable. We were pretty solid on the European states but embarassed ourselves horribly with the African ones. All in all, we had fun along the way though.
We climbed the steps humming the Rocky theme (how could we not?) and even attempting a little sprint in between. But we soon left the exercise activities to the many runners around us and returned to doing touristy things like taking pictures of our surroundings and selfies to prove we were actually here.
We enjoyed Philly very much and I cannot recommend it highly enough for a visit. It is a beautiful town combining history, architecture and a walkable city centre (and that isn't always the case in the States). We left with huge smiles on our faces that even the horrific rush our traffic couldn't wipe off. Day 9? Total success!
As previously stated, we started at the harbour. Pier 5 to be exact. Then we made our way to the aquarium which is on Pier 3.
When our plans fell through we set up a crisis center in the closest Panera. If you don't know what Panera is you very likely haven't lived in the U.S. for a while. It is essentially a bakery that offers amazing lunch deals including great sandwiches and, most importantly, even greater soup. Which you can have in a bread bowl. And when I say bread, I mean real, actual sour dough bread. It is nowhere near original German bread but it is far better than anything else I've tried all year. Anyway, we stopped there a lot on the road. It beats the usual stops of McDonald's and KFC hands down. And have I mentioned you can have your soup in a braed bowl?
The crisis competency team decided to follow the water front and discover the city without a master plan. Scary thought, I admid (to me at least). But seeing as I was on a different continent an ocean away from home I agreed to be brave and head into the unkown. I might be a bit dramatic here. Maybe.
It ended up being a good idea as we saw much more of the city than we would have being stuck in an aquarium all day. We left Baltimore later that evening and drove to the outskirts of Philadelphia. Outskirts meaning King of Prussia. Now, I know most people associate it with the giant mall that makes up most of the town but to me it will always literally mean the king of Prussia. I'm from Berlin which used to be the capital of Prussia. The most important king we had was named Friedrich II. We have a statue of him in the centre of the market place where I grew up. King of Prussia might be one of the least European looking parts of America but somehow, strangely I still felt a bit like coming home.
On our first day, we had another lazy day taking full advantage of the mall and eating way more cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory than we should have. Naturally, this couldn't continue so on the next day (Day 8) we decided to do a roundtrip and discover the more rural parts of Pennsylvania. We got into the car and drove stopping at little farms along the way. This one is still kept like one of the original farms built by the early settlers.
Remember when I said there are no pictures proving K was doing the majority of the driving? Turns out somewhere in the thousands of frames that accumulated on my camera this little gem was hidden. Annoyingly, I felt very sick that day so after this top we took the long way back, not stopping anywhere else and I fell right into bed back at the hotel.
Next on our list was Philadelphia itself, the second largest city on the East Coast. The traffic sure lives up to the hype. It took forever and a few near-accidents to get to the parking garage. I almost couldn't appreciate the naming of the plains at the garage...almost.
And for all you Sherlock fans out there...we where very sad indeed that it was to early to get a pint. Especially, since K is such a Guiness fan.
Our first stop were the buildings surrounding Independence Hall. We were lucky and got entrance tickets from a family that did not want to wait for their assigned entry time. In the meantime we scooped out the place and introduced ourselves to the liberty bell.
During our tour we stumbled upon this beautiful little post office. I actually only wanted to send off a few postcards and did not expect to find it.
It doesn't look like much from the outside but inside it is a teeny tiny museum. The place still looks like it might have 200 years ago when Benjamin Franklin himself roamed the streets.
When it was time for us to visit Independence Hall we happily discovered that the tickets included a guided tour of the premises. So, ladies and gentlemen, this is where the Declaration of Independence was signed seperating all ties between America and the British Commonwealth.
Right next to it is the site of the first form of national Congress. It later moved all over the place before settling in Washington. The Constitution was adopted here in 1787.
Having had our fill of American history and the buildings it evolvoed in we went back Chestnut Street and then took the Benjamin Franklin Parkway all the way up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and those famous 'Rocky' steps.
Architicture wise Philadelphia was one of the most beautiful towns we saw during our whole trip. Some buildings were simply breathtaking.
As you can see here Benjamin Franklin Parkway was ranked on both sides by the flags of all member states of the United Nations. On our way to the Museum of Art we played a game of trying to name as many states before their name plagues were readable. We were pretty solid on the European states but embarassed ourselves horribly with the African ones. All in all, we had fun along the way though.
We climbed the steps humming the Rocky theme (how could we not?) and even attempting a little sprint in between. But we soon left the exercise activities to the many runners around us and returned to doing touristy things like taking pictures of our surroundings and selfies to prove we were actually here.
We enjoyed Philly very much and I cannot recommend it highly enough for a visit. It is a beautiful town combining history, architecture and a walkable city centre (and that isn't always the case in the States). We left with huge smiles on our faces that even the horrific rush our traffic couldn't wipe off. Day 9? Total success!
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