City of Brotherly Love

I went to Philadelphia the first week in November for a Public Health Conference (American Public Health Association). Some of my classmates were presenting and we all got funded to some degree to come out for the conference. I was pretty excited that this year's location was in Philly. It was my first time to the city and it's a pretty cool place. The original downtown is fairly well preserved and Independence Square sits right in the middle of the city. As you walk the streets you can see Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, old Quaker meeting houses, Benjamin Franklin's grave, a Masonic Temple, and more. Here are a few pictures of my trip in Philly.

This is me in front of Independence Hall. This is the location where the Declaration of Independence was signed as well as where the Constitutional Convention took place. It's pretty remarkable to think of what conversations and debates took place in this building. I still have a firm belief that every American citizen needs to visit the places where our initial founding took place. DC and Philadelphia are musts!!

The Liberty Bell with Independence Hall right behind.

This is in the Constitution Center, which is an interactive museum of early American political history. The center starts with a dramatization that talks about the Declaration of Independence and the drafting of the Constitution. It goes through the different struggles for freedom from all the different groups throughout American history. The last exhibit is walking through a room of delegates (like the Benjamin Franklin statue here) at the signing of the Declaration of Independence and then you can sign your name on the declaration...which I did of course.

A couple of my classmates met up with a friend who is studying at Princeton and came down for the evening to join us for dinner. Yeah for friends!

Vacation and eating go hand in hand and on this trip I got to try my first authentic Philly Cheese Steak and Falafel. The cheese steak was pretty good, but I definitely couldn't eat one of those every day. Falafel is a middle eastern sandwich/wrap, which I enjoyed. Sorry no food pics. I would definitely come back to Philadelphia and spend some more time exploring the city.