We traveled to Philly over Columbus Day weekend, a mere 2.5 hours away from our home. We stayed for free at the Embassy Suites on Hilton HHonors points (more about the hotel later). We spent 3 1/2 packed and fun-filled days and nights visiting all of the notorious sites, learning US history, walking A LOT and eating our way through the city!
We arrived on Sunday afternoon and immediately headed to the Old City for a Fall Festival. There, the cobblestone streets were lined with various booths housing crafts, activities, entertainment, and of course, alfresco dining. We feasted on shumai, tacos, gourmet pizzas and we all split a cheese steak egg roll. You can imagine how good it was!
Since the Old City is so close to the Constitution Center, I decided to knock that off the list that first day. The National Constitution Center is sort of like a museum that is all about, yup, the United States Constitution. The exhibits, many which are interactive, show (on a non-partisan basis) the history of the constitution from its inception to today. 
In addition to the exhibits, there are theatrical performances and original documents of freedom. We spent about 2 hours here and all of us were quite interested and engaged. One of our favorite activities was playing a Jeopardy- like game against another family with trivia questions about the presidents. We lost, but we had so much fun debating our answers. In Signers Hall, which houses 42 life-size bronze statues of the Founding Fathers, the kids posed with one of their most recent heroes, Alexander Hamilton.
Later that night, we went to Terror Behind The Walls at the Eastern State Penitentiary. This was a definite highlight and I would not recommend it for anyone that scares easily. It is a gigantic haunted attraction that takes almost an hour to complete because you are walking through all of the various sections of the prison, including the infirmary, cell blocks and solitary confinement wing. During your tour, people are jumping out at you and even come so close to you that they whisper in your ear. They are only allowed to touch you (AND TAKE YOU!) if you are wearing a glow necklace. We opted for NO NECKLACE! This was a great bonding experience for my family. Each time we were startled, we followed it up with a bout of hysterical laughter. The actors singled out Jessie as she was the easiest to scare and they sensed that! I would even make the trip to Philly next fall for just one night to do this again. It was great!
On day 2, we headed back to the Old City for our tour of Independence Hall. It was about a 30 minute tour and I’ll admit, a little boring, but definitely cool to see where the Constitution was signed. 
From there, we made Rob wait for about 30 minutes on the line for all of us to get a close-up shot of the Liberty Bell. While he was on line, the kids and I explored the Independence Hall Visitor Center. (We got to the line about 11 am). We met up with Rob at the front and took the token shot with the bell, but got a better one at night! 
From the Old City, we took a very long walk down 9th street through the Italian 
Market to our eventual destination, the intersection of 9th St and Passyunk. This intersection houses both the infamous Geno’s and Pat’s cheesesteak joints. We settled on Pat’s, but in retrospect, we should have gotten steaks from each so we could truly compare…next time!
We then headed to South Street hailed as one of the “edgiest streets in Philly”. I could see why with its many culturally diverse shops, restaurants and bars. I am sad we only just passed through. I would definitely try to dine here one night on our next trip to Philly. 
One quick stop we did make on South Street was to the Magic Gardens. This museum/gallery spans three city lots, and includes indoor galleries and a large outdoor labyrinth of everything mosaic. The mosaics are made up of everything from pottery, kitchen tiles and fan blades, to even bike wheels. It was absolutely gorgeous and the kids were impressed as well. As we continued along South Street, we finally made it to Big 
Gay Ice Cream, a destination that we still have yet to visit in NYC. It was a fun and delicious stop and a perfect dessert after our cheesesteaks! And we kept on eating….dinner that second night was at the amazing Barbuzzo, a Meditteranean restaurant downtown on 13th street that has tapas and shareable plates….so good! Thanks Aunt Cheryl for the recommendation!
A trip to Philly would not be complete without a visit to the popular Rocky steps. So, the morning of our 3rd day, Rob played the Rocky theme on his phone as we raced up the steps. Unfortunately, I could not rally the troops to do the art museum. Instead, we headed from the steps to have lunch at the Cosmic Cafe, right at the beginning of Boathouse Row. The farm-to-table organic local lunch was quite good.
Right next to the cafe was a bike rental stand. We rented a surrey bike for the five of us and made our way along the path checking out all of the boathouses and picking our favorite ones. We all took turns steering which was an adventure in itself. Philly friends, you are right. Boathouse Row is a great place to run, bike, etc. 
From there, we took a lengthy walk to Federal Donuts on Sansom Street. We did not get any chicken, only donuts. As you could imagine, we all enjoyed them.
Dinner that night was at the ever so popular Israeli restaurant, Zahav. 
I was only able to get a 5:30 reservation by the time I called, and I jumped at that. We all ordered the “taste of zahav”, the tasting menu where we got to sample many of the small plates and sizzling meats. The laffa bread with the hummus may have been one of the best things I have ever tasted. The kids loved it and this was by far their favorite meal in Philly. Worth every penny (it’s not cheap) and worth the early dining time!
On our final day we headed to Reading Terminal Market for lunch and shopping. A few of us had french dip sandwiches from DiNics and Jessie had her first jambalaya. Everything was great. After lunch, we explored all of the Amish stands, and of course, got donuts from Beilers. We purchased a few treats to take home with us too. I found some flavorful vinegars and oils.
And, how could we leave Philly without a visit with our niece and nephew at the University Of Pennsylvania! Thanks Ali and Zack for the fun and informative tour of your campus. Our favorite part was seeing where you both lived.
As promised, a bit about the hotel. Recall that we stayed for free on Hilton Honors points. We stayed at the Embassy Suites, so the suite had plenty of room for us. However, the location of the hotel was far from most of the sites that we wanted to visit (except for the art museum-we were very close to that). For me, I did not mind because I love for us to walk A LOT on vacation. However, if you like to be more central when you travel, I would not recommend staying here. For us, I would rather it be free than convenient. 🙂