Philly, NYC, and New Haven

Welcome back to part two for tonite! I hope you enjoyed catching up on my travels in the past few days: There is tons more to come! After a few days headed up the East coast, it was time to proceed to some of the biggest cities in our beautiful nation.

After a great time in D.C., I headed North and West to Philly. Philly is another beautiful, historic city with lots to offer. I arrived in the afternoon, with few things more prevalent on my mind that getting a delicious, greasy, Philly cheesesteak. I headed to the (disputed) king of said meal, Pat's. Pat's has been a mainstay in Philly since 1920, and for good reason. Their service is sassy, food delicious, and the vibe is distinctly Philly. After satisfying my need for cheesy steaky goodness, I headed over to the West end of town to meet up with my hosts for the night, a couple of cool Drexel kids.

We met up, and like any function involving college kids, began drinking. After starting our party, we headed to an open mic downtown, which featured quite a few really stellar acts. After finishing at the open mic, we headed back to the house to continue the party. An impromptu dance party erupted and, the next thing I knew it was 3:00 A.M. and time to get to bed. After a delirious post-drunken slumber, I awoke ready to tour historic Philadelphia. Again, I have to echo my earlier sentiment about the historic nature of the East coast cities - There is just something about the history that occurred on these haunts that is truly awe striking.

I took my time touring around the historic area of Philly, trying to get a good sense what types of events had transpired on the very grounds I was walking. I toured most of the historic buildings, and although they were brimming with tourists (myself included of course :), they proved to be quite fun and interesting. Probably the coolest site (and the most popular) was the liberty bell. Talk about hundreds of years of history bundled into one monument, the bell is a symbol of American pride and freedom in so many ways.

After a leisurely afternoon touring Philly, I headed for one of my most anticipated cities so far on the trip: New York City. New York is just one of those cities that has such a vibrant energy that once you're there, something just feels different. One thing to note though: New York is not for the timid, or faint of heart - especially drivers. One must be a complete a**hole in order to even jockey for position at a stoplight. I think my moment that epitomizes this is at the Holland tunnel where 8 toll lanes merge to 2 to enter the tunnel, and everyone just kinda smashes into one another in a bumper car like fashion until everybody fits like a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Exhilarating, but seriously scary. 

After making it through the maze of New York traffic, I arrived at my cousin Lisa's apartment in Manhattan near the park. We caught up, parked my car and headed for a delicious Italian meal at gorgeous restaurant minutes from her place. We came back, chatted for a while, and then I passed out, exhausted from a great day. I woke early the next day, and decided to take a stroll in Central Park. I knew it was vast, but two hours later I realized how HUGE it really is. After a nice long walk, I headed back to Lisa's place to grab a quick bite, and head out for the rest of the day.

After heading out, I hit most of the Manhattan hot spots including Time's Square, The East Village, and SOHO. All very cool places and unique in their own ways to the spots previous. I met my cousin Jonas near NYU and grabbed a cup of iced tea to cool off and catch up. After some good conversation, and a quick tour around the area we parted ways and I met up with Lisa down on Wall Street for a tour and a bite to eat. After seeing Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty we chowed down on some delicious Vietnamese food. A great end to a great day.

Once again, I slept like a rock, and woke, ready to continue my journey. I headed North to New Haven,CT home to Yale and some pretty cool historic buildings. I toured around the campus, snapping some photos of the grounds, before rain cut my tour short. What I did see was very cool, and seemed to be teeming with activity (most likely orientation for new students!). After spending the day in the area, I headed North for a reasonable motel room to rest my head.

Alright blogosphere, once again you are completely caught up on my trip. I hope you've enjoyed my tour of the East coast - There's plenty more where that came from!

A.S. Bloom

Follow Me On Flickr for All My Photos:
www.flickr.com/48states80days/