Philadelphia

Philadelphia
Nov. 8 -- Nov. 9

We made it back to the US! Or, more importantly, we made it back to the states with all the food/wine we wanted to bring back with us! Horray!

Here is Aaron checking out the exchange rate for the last time:

I made a list of things I missed from the US to make me a bit more enthusiastic about returning. Not that we didn't want to return, but, well, who actually wants to return to real life after traveling for a month?

Katie's list of things she missed from home:
1. Not needing adaptors for our electronics.
2. Our KITTENS!
3. Being able to use 3G for our phones or, being able to use data wherever we are whenever we want it! (This is what we call a first world problem, but it's really nice to be able to check my Facebook.)
4. Using our credit cards wherever we want without the extra international fee.
5. Hairdryers that are not reverse vacuum cleaners. Also, hair straighteners.
6. Not being the couple with the American accent
7. Cooking
8. OUR KITTENS!
9. Not having to check the currency exchange rate wherever we go.

After collecting our bags, we hopped into a cab run by possibly the angriest cab driver in the world. So yeah, we felt like we were back home.

We had enough time to drop our stuff off at the lovely B&B Aaron reserved for us called "Le Reserve." (I appreciated his efforts to make it seem as if we were still in Europe.) It was the most beautiful place we stayed at our entire trip by far, so of course, I forgot to take a picture of it.

We then went to see Independence Hall and had the most enthusiastic tour guide of all time. Look! There's George Washington in front! (Not our tour guide)

The courtroom

And the room where the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were signed! And, contrary to what I had thought, lil' Rhody was NOT one of the last states to sign, so I've got a little state pride there. (Of course, SC WAS, so there's that.) Also, check out Washington's rising sun chair.

All in all, it was pretty interesting to lean about our own country's history after spending the past month learning about Europe's. Our country is such a BABY!

Then, Aaron and I went to a hole-in-the wall bar called Franklin Mortgage and Investment Company (no joke!) for a VERY strong drink followed by a trip to the Ranstead Room for a less strong drink. Both places were very cool and old-timey. The bartenders at both had handlebar mustaches and wore suspenders with those things that hold up your sleeves while all the waitresses had that thick Adele eye makeup. We were the least cool people there but enjoyed ourselves nonetheless! Here is Aaron enjoying himself while also looking very concerned:

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant called El Ray, but by this time, the time change was hitting me pretty hard, so we went back to the room and crashed.

The next morning we woke up insanely early and then had breakfast with a very nice couple from Belgium and a very narcissistic couple from Florida who are currently writing their memoirs "because our children really want to read about our lives." Upon seeing us, they told us to "be on our best behavior" in order to make a good impression on the Belgian couple and then proceeded to tell the couple how nice is must be to be from Amsterdam. We were pretty insulted but are also pretty sure we weren't the ones making a poor impression on anyone.

We had enough time before our flight to see the Liberty Bell, so we headed that way and saw this cool exhibit at the same time. Archeologists have unearthed the foundation of the original President's Residence, and the exhibit has partial walls where actual walls once were and tell the stories of the slaves who worked in the house. Here's the foundation:

Then we saw the Liberty Bell!

We were in Philly, so we had to have a cheesesteak at some point. We went to Campo's, which was close and quick. The cheesesteaks were less cheesy and more bready than anticipated, but still good.

Then, it was back to Charleston for us! It felt surreal to be heading back home after so much time away, but we were excited to back home and sleep in our beds and snuggle with our cats and shower in our shower!

Next up: Epilogue