Got to Philadelphia at about 8pm and headed to the Travelodge. It worked out about $2 more a night than a 6 bed dorm room so we thought we would treat ourselves to our own bathroom as it is the end of the trip. Got in and just watched Tv and got an early night. Gemma however, had gotten a text from her friend Billy who we were supposed to be satying with in New York saying he was now away on a business trip until the 18th so we couldnt stay, he said he would ask around and his flat mate might be about if we were stuck. Gemma hadn't heard from him in a while despite the fact she emailed him to get his address for when we arrived, so i wasn't totally surprised but i thought he could have given us a bit more notice as it was him who suggested us staying with him...insisted in fact!!! So we tried to email him back a couple of times to see if we could stay from the 18th onwards or if his flat mate was about but he never replied so we will no desperately have to look for somewhere to stay.

5th August

Today we got up and had our free breakfast which was ok. Everything seemed to have sugar all over it. The only cereal you could get was frosties and the orange juice had about 5 tablespoons of sugar in it! But i ate it up as it was free and we headed out into the city. We are located quite near the Philadelphia Museum of Arts so we went there and ran up the stairs like "Rocky" does in the films, and then had our picture taken next to his copper statue. It is even hotter here than in Washington and we were absolutely dripping again (very attractive I'm sure). We headed towards independence Hall and had a look at the Liberty Bell which was in a nice museum. I was a bit disappointed with Independence Hall though. We then walked up to Benjamin Franklin's house and also saw the Declaration house where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. We were also going to look at Betsy Ross' house where she apparently sewed the first american flag but apparently its completely untrue so we didnt bother.

So we headed to the library to try and find a reasonable hostel at short notice. We have managed to get one which is near central Park. It is quite a way out of central manhattan but it is cheap. We are then moving to another hostel for the last 6 days which is cheap as well and a lot more central so we wont have to catch the subway everywhere and spend money. Its just so annoying as if he had told us earlier places in downtown would have had more availability etc but i guess there's nothing we can do now so we are just going to enjoy it...

Went for dinner at an Italian restaurant. We shared a pizza and "unlimited salad" with a glass of white wine for $15 each and that included a good tip. I think sharing is the way forward as we can never finish a meal each and we didnt even get the salad topped up once. Americans just have such huge portions. And it means we can still eat out once in a while. Went back to the hotel and watched Mama Mia and went to bed!

6th August

Woke up today to rain and thunderstorms forecast for the rest of the day so decided to come back to the library and write our blogs as we wont get much chance in New York. We are going to go to the cinema and then get a Philly Cheese Steak sandwhich from Pat's which is apparently where they originated from and it was a place recommended to us by a lady on the plabe who lives here.

Tomorrow is supposed ot be fine so we are going to head up to Fairmount Park and sunbathe for the day, and give our feet a rest as we have walked for miles since coming to the West Coast. Still it is good exercise and saves money so i wont complain.