Mmm...Cheesesteak!

Saturday July 16.  Ahh…Saturday…the weekend!  But when you’re on a marathon vacation trip, I guess it’s like one huge weekend anyway!  We took our time getting up and getting ready, so we could have more of a leisurely, no pressure, no time constraints morning.  It was nice.

Pat's Steaks in Philadelphia

Around 11:00 or so we headed out in search of Pat’s Steaks so we could eat a renowned Philly cheesesteak sandwich.  There is  a great debate in Philadelphia about who grills the best cheesesteaks – Pat’s or Geno’s.  Funny thing was – they were directly across the street from each other.  The lines for the order windows were BOTH entirely in the street when we arrived.  It was crazy!  Pat’s is the “original” cheesesteak, as Pat Olivieri and his brother, Harry, are often credited with inventing the sandwich by serving chopped steak on hoagie rolls in the early 1930s. They began selling this variation of steak sandwiches at their hot dog stand near south Philadelphia's Italian Market. They became so popular that Pat opened up his own restaurant which still operates today as Pat's King of Steaks. The sandwich was originally prepared without cheese. Olivieri claims provolone cheese was first added by Joe "Cocky Joe" Lorenza, a manager at the Ridge Avenue location.  (Info gleaned from Wikipedia.)  At any rate, the Pat’s sandwiches were delicious!

Benjamin Franklin Statue in the Franklin Institute

After lunch, we drove back to Logan Circle to visit the Franklin Institute, which was one of my absolute favorite places to go as a child.  Inside is a heart, big enough to walk through!  The pathways are guiding you through the blood flow and the heart even “beats.”  There is also a “Train Factory” section in the museum which houses a real train engine and one other car and they REALLY MOVE!  Okay, so maybe it’s only a foot or so, but they MOVE!  I had been talking about the train for quite a while and Dan walked into the room and said, “Oh!  It’s a REAL train.”  Uhhhhhhhhhhh.  (By the way, Andrew and Kylie were NOT sufficiently impressed with the heart, which made me a bit sad.  :(  Oh well.

At the Franklin Institute was an IMAX theater, so guess what we did?  YES!  We saw Harry Potter and theDeathly Hallows, Part 2.  Of course we did!  We all loved it and I cried.  No surprise there.  I can’t believe all the movies are done!  But now that Daniel Radcliffe is about 38 years old I guess it’s time.  LOL.

View of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Cue Rocky music.  Down the avenue a ways was the Philadelphia Museum of Art and that’s where we headed.  Our own Rocky, Dan, wanted to run up the steps.  Kylie ran up the steps and pointed out that Dan ran up the “steps” but walked in between on the “landings” and that she ran the entire way.  Ah, the honesty of children.  We did not go into the museum, as it was already closed and we figured we had had enough art perusing at the Met in New York.