Traveling to Philly is pretty simple. We boarded an Amtrak train from Moynihan Train Hall in New York City, and, within 90 minutes, we were at the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. I prefer the Keystone Service line because there are only three major stops on the route: New York, Philadelphia and Harrisburg. It’s easier to find a seat on the train back to NYC when there’s fewer people already onboard once it stops in Philly.
Hotel
We stayed at the Philadelphia Marriott Old City. The hotel is conveniently located near Penn’s Landing and many of Philly’s historic attractions like Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. It is also nestled in a very quiet location, which was nice. The lobby and bar area of the hotel was always noisy though. It seemed to be a very popular spot for hotel guests. The room was clean with a modern and airy feel to it. A few of my gripes with the room: no full length mirror, no dresser to store clothes, and the desk lamp not being functional. Despite these minor inconveniences, the room was comfortable and pleasant to stay in. The hotel does have very polarizing reviews online, which I found strange. People either said their hotel room was clean and comfortable or that it was dirty and not functional. I’m glad I didn’t experience the latter. I did feel bad for the Ubers that had to pick us up at our hotel because of the cobblestone streets of the historic area. 😅
Food
We mainly consumed cheesesteaks and Mac and cheese in Philly. LOL. Danny is a very simplistic person when it comes to food, and I tend to seek out comfort food. We dined at Oh Brother Philly for cheesesteaks because it was highly recommended by patrons online, and only a five minute walk from our hotel. I wanted to finally try one of Philly’s most iconic foods, but have always been turned off from having one. I was convinced I wasn’t going to like it because the older I get the more and more I realize I’m not fond of steak. It’s tolerable at restaurants, but It’s not something I seek out. Turns out, I loved the cheesesteaks because I had them twice LOL.
We went to Oh Brother twice because we’re creatures of habit. Our first visit consisted of a cheesesteak to share, Mac n cheese, fried pickles and a strawberry shake. On our second visit, I had a cheesesteak (again) and Danny ordered General Tso’s crispy chicken sandwich. Danny fell in love with this chicken sandwich so much that I can probably bribe him to come back to Philly for this sandwich alone. I hate General Tso’s sauce, but he loves it. We visited Mac Mart again on this trip, but decided to stick with the classic Marts Mac dish, which is their classic seven cheese Mac topped with potato chip panko crunch. Danny didn’t eat his crunchies, so I proceeded to steal his and put it on my Mac n cheese so I had extra. 😅
Last but not least, I FINALLY visited Philly's famous donut shop. Federal Donuts is a popular shop that serves Korean-style fried chicken, donuts and coffee. Danny got a coffee, while I picked out a dark chocolate glazed donut to eat. I’m realizing I prefer cake donuts to giant yeast donuts. Yeast donuts can be too big and too doughy for me. I need Kayla sized donuts to enjoy.
Attractions
My main goal was to visit the Mütter Museum in Philly. The museum is named for Thomas Dent Mütter, an American surgeon in the 1800s. Mütter specialized in reconstructive surgery on people with deformities. He was also the first American surgeon to administer anesthesia to his patients. Throughout his life, Mütter collected artifacts related to surgery that he used to teach his students when he was a professor of surgery at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He donated his collection to the College in 1858, which became the core purpose of the museum. Now, the museum has a collection of more than 25,000 specimens on display.
I found the museum morbidly fascinating. There is an exhibit that shows a piece of Albert Einstein’s brain, and theorizes why us civilians are vastly stupid in comparison to this genius. LOL. Their Spits Spreads Death exhibition about the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 in Philadelphia was very informative. The 1918 pandemic has been mentioned a lot ever since Covid-19 became quite prevalent. However, I don’t know much about this event and now I understand why it’s often referred to as America’s forgotten pandemic, which is quite baffling considering it’s the second deadliest pandemic in history after the bubonic plague.
In 1918, Philadelphia insisted the Liberty Loan Parade go on, which was held to promote government bonds to help pay for troops in World War I, despite the growing threat of the Spanish flu. The parade led to one of the largest outbreaks of the flu in the United States. America hasn’t changed much since then. In 2019, Blast Theory and other organizations in Philly held a parade in September to honor the victims of this forgotten pandemic. It’s eerie to think that the people participating in this parade would go on to experience a deadly pandemic in their own lifetime just a few months later.
Later on, we walked to City Hall to try to take a photo with this maleficent landmark in the background. It wasn’t working out that day, and I didn’t have the dress I wanted to wear at the time. One day I will get the shot. We ended our day by going to the movie theater that was literally a two-minute walk from our hotel to see Nope. It was a small and less crowded theater, which I liked. I think it’s funny how we find ourselves watching new horror movies during our Philly trips lol. First it was Candyman, now it was Nope. No city can stop us from watching our horror movies.
Overall, I really enjoyed our weekend getaway to Philly to see Rob Zombie. I think going to Philly will be an optimal choice for a concert I want to attend in the future, and I don’t want to struggle getting to the PNC Bank Arts Center in Northern Jersey. I can’t wait for the next few concerts we have left this year, and our week long adventure at Disneyland in October!
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