Philadelphia

Well, I made it to Philly in one piece, although I didn't expect the hostel to be shut until 4:30pm, which meant I had to cart my bags and backpack around with me for 5 hours. There was no luggage storage in town, so it was a very long day. I was starting to get pissed off with the whole situation and then I was sitting next to a food stall and a young woman had just cut her fingers off with an automatic slicing machine. It sort of put my little problem into perspective. I am in a room with 19 other guys. I can't explain the smell!!!! But it's a bed and most of them slept in. Not so many snored. I keep on bumping into a guy from Russia and we have snippets of conversations.

A new day has begun and I did the Liberty Bell and Independence hall thing and then did the square mile walk, which took in Betsy Ross's house (she was commission by Washington to quilt the first stars and stripes flag), the Benjamin Franklin bridge and an assortment of museums. I only just got back to the hostel, so I have been walking for about 8 hours. My feet are all blistered and red from all this walking I am doing in the heat.

Overall Philly is a nice place with a lot of history. It is much bigger than I thought, although I don't think I will want to come back here. Tomorrow I am off to the big apple with Amtrak. It should only take an hour.