Culture, History, and Cheese Steaks

Any true traveler who visits the Tri-State Area is crazy if they do not see historic Philadelphia. Heading north from Virginia, my travel companions, Andre Ford and Emily Borden, and I decided we needed a break from our Greyhound tour. We asked the bus driver to drop us off by City Hall and come back in a couple of hours. For the next five hours, Andre, Emily, and I would be free from schedules and set destinations. With only a map of Philly and twenty-one dollars each, we embarked on our journey through Philadelphia.

Since Philadelphia is full of culture and history, Andre, Emily, and I decided to balance the two out to obtain the full Philly experience. As we were already in front of City Hall, we decided to explore the area a bit before moving on. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday, and, everything was locked and not open to the public. We were not going to let the cloudy day, drizzle, and locked doors put a damper on our day. Looking at our map, we found that Chinatown was only a couple of blocks away. After heading east on Arch Street and strolling down a couple of blocks, we reached the eye-catching gate of Chinatown. Even though it was a Sunday, the streets were busy with open markets and pedestrians. It was obvious to us there was no such day as a “day of rest” in Chinatown. As we walked up and down the streets, we noticed several fish markets with their “catch” sitting out in the open. To our surprise, hundreds of fish and crabs eyed us as we passed. The further we walked, the more we realized the amount of trust the Chinese population has with themselves and their visitors. We also noticed how fine a job the Philadelphia Chinese did in bringing their home culture across the world to the east coast of the United States. After getting a good taste of this culture, we decided to take a look at our map to see what we could explore next.

As our luck would have it, the most important historical area in the entire United States, Independence Mall, was just down the road from the Friendship Gate of Chinatown. After heading south on 6th Street, then east on Market Street, we reached the Visitors Center of the Mall. Here, we found samplings of what was ahead of us as well as other historical facts. On our way to the Liberty Bell center, I noticed a list of maxims from Poor Richard’s Almanac. One particular quotation caught my eye: “If you would not be forgotten as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing”. This maxim had both historical and personal meanings. To me, it embodied both what the founding fathers did to form the United States of America and my travels. Since this maxim was worth remembering, I put it in the back of my head and continued on to the Liberty Bell. On our way across the street to the museum, we noticed an extremely long line outside the door. Since our time was limited and we wanted to maximize what we saw, the long line full of tourists with their cameras, shorts paired with high socks, and duck “quackers” from a tour center was not worth the wait. Still wishing to see the Liberty Bell, we decided to improvise and take a trip around the building to the back. Luckily, we came across a wall sized window that separated the present and the past. There we stood in front of the magnificent looking Liberty Bell! Although we were unable to breathe in its copper aroma, being able to see it in real life was rewarding enough. Even though the Liberty Bell is a popular attraction in Philadelphia, there were still many more historical sights to see.

Independence Hall was next on our list of historical sights to see. But, not to our surprise, an even longer line appeared in front of us. Unfortunately, since windows do not surround Independence Hall, we were unable to get a look at the documents that defined the founding of our country. Instead, we decided to take the “road less traveled” to a square right next to the mall. We noticed a magnificent off white building with tall columns in the front. We were pleasantly surprised when we saw a sign saying “OPEN” in the front of the building. When we walked inside, we quickly learned that we had set foot in one of the first banks of the United States. Historians and museum officials did much work to transform the cornerstone of American economics into an exhibit that provided guests with key information about previous bankers who had earlier walked the same path around the complex. After learning a bit about early American economics and its founders, we decided to continue on with our journey, and head toward Washington Square.

When I glanced at the map to the ant-sized Washington Square, I noticed tiny writing that spelled out “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier”. I was a bit confused, since the only Tomb of the Unknown I knew of was in Washington D.C. When we reached the square, the first sight that caught our eye was a statue in the distance with a flame in front of it. As we approached the memorial, we noticed the inscription on the tomb that described how the remains beneath the tomb belonged to one of thousands of soldiers who fought for our freedom in the Revolutionary War. That is the American Revolution of 1775! Andre, Emily, and I were in the presence of a true freedom fighter! After reading the caption, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as if they wanted to get a closer look! After my lower jaw returned to its closed position while I regained my composure, we decided to explore some Philly culture by heading to the famous South Street.

On our way to South Street, we came across Philadelphia locals, dressed in their Sunday finest, entering and leaving the Mother Bethel AME Church. We knew that since it was Sunday, a holy day of the week, people would be attending church. But this church was not like the others that we had known. In fact, Mother Bethel was the first African American Methodist Episcopal church in the United States! We were all pleased to see that the church is still being used as a place of worship, and has not been transformed into a museum. The people we witnessed entering and exiting the historic church were not only attending a religious service, but also following in the footsteps of their ancestors who walked before them. Since we did not wish to disrupt mass, we continued on to South Street.

Fellow travelers to Philadelphia spoke highly of South Street and its eateries, so we decided we would break to grab a bite of true Philly cuisine. We had walked to the end of South Street at Penn’s Landing, passing what seemed to be hundreds of cheese steak places along the way. After assessing the popularity of various cheese steak joints by the size of lines and signs that read “VOTED BEST CHEESE STEAKS IN ALL OF PHILLY” or “BEST STEAKS ON SOUTH STREET”, we decided to stop at Jim’s Steaks for lunch. The line was just beginning to form out the door, and there were no signs to be found that declared their steaks the best. Boy, were we in for a surprise when we finally made it inside! Pictures of celebrities, from athletes to movie stars and famous musicians, filled up every bit of wall space. After ordering my cheese steak with whiz cheese and no extras, I headed to the top floor dining area. When I finally got a chance to take a bite, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. One bite did it for me! I did not care what the signs of other restaurants said, Jim’s had the BEST cheese steaks in all of Philly! All of the “cheese steaks” that I had eaten before could not even compare to the one I was eating at Jim’s. All my life, I had been lied to when eating so-called Philly cheese steaks. First of all, the only place to get Philly cheese steaks is not in your grocer’s freezer, but in the one and only Philadelphia, PA. Also, you have not had a Philly cheese steak unless you have had one from Jim’s! Even after I finished my sandwich, I was fishing for words to describe its deliciousness. After enjoying every last crumb, Andre looked at his watch and realized that the bus would be back to pick us up in twenty minutes. Since we just wanted to relax after such a hardy meal, and Jim’s was a crowded place at 2:00 PM on a Sunday afternoon, we offered our table to other hungry customers, and headed back towards Penn’s Landing to find a place to sit down.

As we reached the dock at Penn’s Landing, the cold winds picked up and it started to drizzle again. We noticed a Hyatt Hotel in the distance, so we headed in its direction. The hotel management, dressed in grey suits that matched the clouds in the sky, must have thought we were guests as they graciously held the door for us when we entered the lobby. We were quick to sit on the cloud-like sofas and chairs found there. After a few minutes, Andre decided he wanted to see the “penthouse” on the top floor, if one existed. Emily and I, not wanting to miss out on any adventure, were quick to follow. When we entered the elevator, we were greeted by a friendly couple, Ben and Susan. Both were obviously in town for business since Ben was dressed in a black three piece suit with a bright red tie, and Susan a blue blazer and skirt. After letting them know what floor we were headed to, we shared an interesting conversation about traveling. They were from New York, visiting Philadelphia for a conference, but also wanted to explore the city. Once we told them that we were traveling from Virginia up to Maine, stopping and doing some sight seeing on the way, they enthusiastically brought up that they were travelers themselves! During this two minute conversation, we realized the elevator had not moved an inch. As I took a bite out of whatever was left of my apple, Ben jokingly said, “you better save that for later, we might be stuck here for a while. In fact, you might even have to share with all of us!” We all let out a good laugh, but then thought, could we really be stuck? When I pressed the “lobby” button, the doors opened, and we quickly changed elevators. After the same problem occurred in the second elevator, Susan decided to read the directions, and realized that we needed our key cards to operate the elevators. Since we did not have one, we decided to stay along for the ride and head to any floor our new found friends were going to. When we reached the fourteenth floor, we bid them farewell and best of luck on their travels. Although we did not get as high as floor twenty six, fourteen was enough. We were able to return to the lobby on the same elevator, just in time to call the bus driver to come pick us up.

As we boarded the Greyhound, we felt accomplished in our journey. We found our balance of culture and history, and enjoyed a few laughs along the way. Even after our stomachs had been digesting our cheese steaks for twenty minutes, we could not get them off our minds. Overall, our decision to explore Philadelphia was rewarding, and definitely one for the books. Following the maxim from Poor Richards Almanac, my experience was definitely “worth writing”!