[Travel] One day trip to Philadelphia (Part 2)

Part 2: Franklin Square, original Cheese Steak restaurants, Washington Square, Thomas Jefferson Garden, Penn's Landing, Chinatown, and beautiful Old England architecture

Read the first half of my trip in the link below,

READ PART 1


After the NFL Draft event, I waited a long while to catch the bus back to Independence Hall area. From there I walked visit Franklin Square. The weather chilled down a lot, and became less sunny so I felt much more comfortable then.

When I got to Franklin Square, I saw a black dude wearing Vietnamese flag as t-shirt, and the date of my visit was around a sensitive day (to the Vietnamese American). It was just so random that I had to take a photo hahahaha

I soon realized that they was a Chinese Lantern festival going on here. Just perfect! I proceeded to walk inside and enjoy some incredible pieces of arts.

Let's enjoy some breath-taking laterns below. There were light bulbs inside the lanterns. If no time constraints, I would definitely love to enjoy these lanterns at night when the lights were up.

After enjoying the laterns, it was 6PM, and it was time for dinner! Thanks to a friend's, Hung's, recommendation, my dinner choice was Cafe Diem.

Besides my friend's recommendation, there were also 3 other good reasons for me to have dinner at Cafe Diem:
1) I was craving for Bun Bo Hue
2) I like what I saw on Yelp (https://www.yelp.com/biz/cafe-diem-philadelphia)
3) It was close to the 2 famous cheese steak places (Pat's and Geno's)

With the reason 3) in mind, I caught the 47 bus from Franklin Square going south. The bus took about 20 minutes to get there. The bus stopped at almost every intersection, and I enjoyed watching all the cute little houses in Philadelphia.

After getting off the bus and locating Cafe Diem, it was a short walk from there to Geno's and Pat's.
Boy, it was crowded there. I definitely was a tourist place, because a lot of people were taking pictures of the 2 famous Cheese Steak shops. There was quite a line at both Geno's and Pat's.

Pat's was the original cheese steak store. They say cheese steaks originated from there, so the store was a little old, and there was less space at the dining table.

There was a big motobike group parking there to try out the famous cheese steaks here

Unlike Pat's, Geno's looked a lot newer, with more sitting space, and the line was long too!

I will definitely come back one day to try the cheese steaks here hehe.

After taking photos of these 2 famous shops, I made my way back to Cafe Diem. I was skeptical because I just moved to the East Coast from California, but Bun Bo Hue here was great:

It wasn't the best that I ever had, but still it beat my expectations, below is my YELP review:
YELP REVIEW LINK

My local friend suggested this place, and boy! It was good!
I just moved to the East coast from California, so my standard for Viet food was super high, and I was skeptical about this place. I was even more skeptical because their side veggies didn't look like what was supposed to go with BunBo (they served a standard Pho side veggies), but after my first sip of their soup, all my doubts were washed away.
From my first sip, I could tell the soup was extracted from the fatty broth of the beef, making the soup even more savory and thick. Adding the spiciness for satay made the soup even more flavorful. Basically their soup was on point, and up to standard.
The noodles were ok. The meat was great! They gave me a generous portion of meat combinations, for just a small bowl of Bun Bo. Even though my bowl was a small bowl, I had a lot of meat towards the end, more meat than noodles at the the end.
The combination of meat toppings was great too. I had ham hock, beef shanks, pork, at least 5 pieces of pork patties, and at least 2 pieces of tendon, so A LOT of meat.
Maybe they didn't want to shy away from the renowned cheese steaks shops nearby (Pat's and Geno's), so they made the beef slices really tasty and gave generous portions of beef slices haha.
Overall great BUN BO. 
$10 for a deluxe small bowl.

After Bun Bo Hue, I caught the bus back, thinking that I would visit Penn's Landing before calling it a trip. After all, I had already visited most of the attractions in my itinerary. However, the bus was passing by Washington Square, and the view of the park and the surrounding houses were so beautiful that I had to stop by to enjoy it.

Just look at the beautiful buildings

A beautiful corner here looking from the park. The English architecture with all the red and brown bricks really made me consider building a house or living in buildings with such style one day. And the CHIMNEYS... Ohhh the beautiful chimneys.. 

The park had a Washington statue, and seemed like a good place to go for a run or a walk.

Not being born in America, but I connect with the Land of the Free ideology a lot.

After that, I walked a long Walnut St, heading towards Penn's Landing. To my amazement, I discovered even more beautiful scenery. Notably the garden that of the Second Bank of The US. I wasn't sure it was the same as the 18th Century Garden, but if not, this place was just right next to it.

Just look at all the beautiful green trees and leaves.

Just by looking at the green leaves, I felt like I was falling in love with Spring on the East Coast already. Btw, the white building hiding behind the trees was the Second Bank of the US

After that I had a quick look at the Thomas Jefferson Garden

Then I keep walking along Chestnut to enjoy even more architecture of the 18th century. I had a quick look at the Carpenter's Historic Hall

Then I just leisurely enjoy my stroll along Chestnut St, looking at the cute little shops and paved roads.

The was the Museum of American Evolution with fantastic art works outside.

The walk was so enjoyable, I wished I was sharing that moment with someone. Well, if I went with someone I wouldn't be able to see that much in a day though haha.

After that, I arrived at Penn's Landing, but it was quite a disappointment: There wasn't much going on, and the water looked gray.

There seemed to be a skating rink, but it was pretty dead when I was there.

I did walk down the abandoned highway road to get close to the water though, but nothing was interesting, so I walked back up the highway road to go back to my bus stop.

I then realized I walked into Market St, with some nightlife activities going on. Not as much as NYC though.

I passed by Independence Hall at night, and caught a quick glimpse of it. Just look at that historic landmark standing in the middle of a modern city.

Then I was again amazed at the old England architecture. Just look at that beautiful little house, standing out of nowhere in the middle of modern buildings. I'll definitely get a house like that!

I checked my time and saw that I had time for a quick Boba Tea, so I decided to go to a popular Boba tea place there. I realized that I had already been there a long time ago with someone that I didn't keep in touch with anymore.

It was Tea Do. The tea was mediocre, but hey! It had the same last name with myself.

On my way to the bus stop, I also got a quick view of the Philly Chinatown. Looked nice and cleaner than a lot of other China towns

I got the bus stop at around 8:48PM, bought the ticket right there, and hopped on the bus a couple minutes later, enjoying my boba tea on my way home. I felt so accomplished. I saw so much in just one day in Philadelphia, and I didn't feel that exhausted on the bus haha. That was strange!  I was wide awake during the trip back to NYC.

That's it guys. That was my One Day Trip in Philadelphia. See you later!