Philadelphia, PA, USA

In May I took a whirlwind trip to visit my best friend in Philadelphia and see her new home. Elsa and I have been friends since we were 12 years old! We both turned 30 this year and I wanted to do a quick little trip to celebrate. She’s working her butt off in PA school so I came to visit over her summer break!

Day 1

I got lucky enough to get a full row to myself on the flight to Philly which was awesome. I was also able to use my American Airlines miles to fly for free!

When I landed in Philly I took an Uber to Elsa’s place and we went to get some coffee. I was surprised at how big a small coffee was! I guess I’ve been out of America too long.

Then we took a walking tour of Philly led by my unoffiicial guide (Elsa) to see the Betsy Ross house, Elfreth’s Alley (the oldest residential street in the US), Independence Hall and the Liberty bell (through the window so it would be free of course). The weather was great and it’s a really pretty city!

This last picture makes me laugh a lot. Elsa is my friend who has always been good at photography but every picture she took at Independence Hall had her thumb in it!

For dinner I was pretty worn out so we grabbed Cava to go which was delicious!! I didn’t take a photo because I really didn’t expect it to be so good.

Day 2

K’Far

The next day we went to K’Far where we had the most incredible pistachio sticky bun that I am still dreaming about. We also shared a Jerusalem bagel and 2 boreka’s, one potato and one artichoke. Everything was amazing!

Reading Terminal Market

After some relaxing and wandering we ended up at the Reading Terminal Market. We got pretzels and then I couldn’t resist getting some elotes from this Central American street food stand. American corn is elite! The market is really cool and seemed to have some excellent food.

City Hall

After that we ended up at city hall which had a cute park and food cart out front so we had a drink and did some people watching there. They even had a roller skating rink out front! We also walked across the street to see the famous LOVE sign and take some more photos.

Before heading home we went to my favorite place of all time, TRADER JOES! Where I bought an obscene amount of snacks to take back to NL with me.

Magic Gardens

Before dinner we walked past the magic gardens, which is an art gallery/exhibit and several nearby walls of beautiful mosaics. We did not go inside (it was closed for the night but also costs money) but the outside of it was beautiful and there was a ton of mosaic art from the same artist all around the area.

Fitz on 4th

After our walk we headed to dinner at Fitz on 4th. It’s an all vegan restaurant where we got spinach dip, spaghetti and meatballs, and the sleeper hit which was an edamame gyoza recommended by the waiter. Everything was really delicous! I would not have even known most of it was vegan.

Day 3

Taco Heart

Day 3 started off with a trip to Taco Heart. I have to eat mexican food in some form whenever I go to the US and Elsa’s favorite spot is this breakfast taco place. We got some black bean queso to share and I got one classic breakfast taco and one special one with refried beans. They were really delicious! The tortillas were fresh made and the queso was soo good.

Beer garden

We met up with some of Elsa’s friends later in the day at a really cool pop up beer garden. It was so fun to meet her new friends in her new city! The space was really cool and green too.

Paulie Gee’s Soul City Slice Shop

For dinner we had originally discussed going to get Philly cheesesteaks but the place closed super early and the tacos from the morning were sooo filling. We decided instead to stop a slice shop nearby, which wasn’t distinctly Philly per-se but felt very “east coast” to me (a girl who has only lived on the west coast). I got a pepperoni slice with hot honey which was delicious but very messy.

Spruce Street Harbor Park

Later in the evening we went to check out this really nice waterfront park. They have hammocks, food stands, and nice places along the water. You can also walk a little further down to a couple of cool piers on the water. It was pretty windy and a bit chilly but the view on the water was really nice. It seemed like a great spot for a summer night!

Day 4

Knead Bagels

My last day we woke up to a pretty rainy day and decided it was time to just chill. Before we could chill though, we needed bagels! I really wanted to get a bagel since the east coast seems to be more famous for them (this was my first time to the east coast!) I got a fennel and sea salt bagel with roasted tomato cream cheese. It was fantastic.

Middle Child

As our last stop before my flight after a chill day, some packing and napping, we went to Middle Child so I could get a reuben (I know, I should have got a cheesesteak at some point but it sounded so HEAVY before a 10 hour flight. But I love a reuben!) The reuben at middle child did not disappoint. I think it was one of the best I’ve ever had! Elsa got a pretty delicious veggie sandwich as well. This is definitely a spot I would return to!

I had to leave to catch my flight after this but I can’t wait to come back for a longer trip to see my bestie and finally get that cheesesteak!