The Streets of Philadelphia

hmm.. Its difficult to sum up my time in Philadelphia. I'll start by talking about the city itself, of which I have mixed feelings. As soon as I walked out of the train station, I could see the place is a bit kind of 'gritty'.  Coming from New York and Boston, Philly is more slow paced. It also seems a bit old and poor, there are beggers and dodgy geezers all over the place, and they are always coming up to you. The people are alright, but I didnt get the friendly feel that I had in Boston or NY.

In saying that, the old part of the city is quite nice. The buildings are old historic red brick. The place is famous for the declaration of Indepence. Benjamin Franklin lived here, and Philly was the capital of the States for a while after the revolution.

We all went out last night for a special promotion, where beer was 25 cence

On the toursit side, there is a million museums here, none of which I bothered with. I did get quite excited about running up the Rocky steps though :) I also went on this old prison tour of Eastern State penitentiary, the first real prison in America, which was kind of cool. I walked around all the Independence stuff, and looked at the Liberty bell. Its weird, they search you at all these places, kind of annoying after a while.

I did have a great time in Philly though. The Hostel is excellent, its the first hostel where the people actually mix. There are a few lads from the north, and a girl from Dublin (actually she went to NCAD and was in Meadhbh's class- small world eh!). We all went out last night for a special promotion, where beer was 25 cence, yes 25c. vodka was $1. I think a round of 6 beers and a vodka cost me $2.50! It was a heavy night, but a good one! Ended up playing guitar (quite badly) till about 4 in the morning!

There is a big psychology conference on in Philly, so the hostel is flooded with Psychology people. Ended up walking around Philly today, with 2 shrink types. I have to say it was one of the most unusual days of my life! The 'off button' for deep meaningful conversations simply does not exist.

Off to Washington DC tomorrow. Not sure what to expect but we'll see. Have put up the Philly photos on Picasa.  Hope all is well back in Ireland, its raining here aswell, Over and out..