Hello Readers. Spring is finally here after a long wait this year. Yesterday, as I sat myself, with a cup of Cafe Latte, on our terrace garden and turned the pages of our photo album from last year (it is fun maintaining a print photo album in this digital era too) memories of Philadelphia’s beautiful skyline and the Rocky’s steps echoed.

‘The City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection’ as it been nicknamed  2014 or  ‘The Birthplace of America’ has  a lot of history and it is practically impossible to explore the entire city over a single weekend. Therefore, we (Amit and I) decided to split our time and visit Philadelphia on Saturday and another neighbouring city on Sunday.

With  good interest in American history, we started our explorations along with our dear friends with whom we had been staying over the weekend.

Following are a few “first-visit-must-do’s ” in Philadelphia:

1) Get yourself clicked or selfie-ed at the Liberty Bell.

Liberty Bell is a symbol of American Independence. The bell was recast twice after it cracked first when rung on its arrival in Philadelphia.

2) Visit the Independence Hall

This is the Hall where the constitution was signed. Admission is by tour only, which starts every 20 or 30 minutes depending upon the season. There is an orientation session and then it is followed by the tour of the Independence Hall on the first floor.

3) National Constitution Center

The nonprofit and recently established (September 2000) center serves as an interactive museum and national town hall for constitutional dialogue.

4) Philadelphia Museum of Art

Established in 1876, this museum has a great collection of various forms of artworks and objects of American, Asian and European origin. Planning the visit here in advance would be advisable as it offers various tours and has specific opening hours.5) Get yourself photographed with Rocky Statue

The larger than life-size iconic Rocky statue was made for  fictional Rocky Balboa of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky movies, which he later donated to The City of Philadelphia.

 

6) Run up the Rocky steps.

The 72 steps leading up to the Museum of Art are named as the Rocky Steps. It is the second most famous movie location of the world. The four of us ended our day with paying homage to the famous Rocky’s run.