We almost didn’t come to Philadelphia. The thing about Philly is that it isn’t really on anyone’s travel radar and it often gets overshadowed by bigger cities to the north and south. Yet neither Greg nor I had ever been to the city of brotherly love and it was halfway between New York and DC so we thought, why not?

And its a good thing we did. Our first basic impression of Philadelphia was of a vibrant city that is a bit unsure of itself. It is a big city, a college town, a construction site and a historic monument. Our first day was spent wandering through UPenn (on a shorlist of possible graduate schools once we’re done with this whole Korea thing) and the Reading Terminal Market.  On our second day, we did stop by the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, basically because in any new place we feel obligated to see its big stars, but mostly we spent our time here just walking around—past large skyscrapers and ivy covered bricks, through markets and galleries, along river fronts and cobble stone streets. We met up with Greg’s Aunt Sue, cousins Dave and Kathryn and Kathryn’s boyfriend Kevin for a wonderful dinner and left Philly the next morning happy we had come and feeling better for it.