Philly the city of brotherly love

Well Phily, or the city of brotherly love... as it apparantly means. Well this is the third time i have tried to type this, i keep deleting it by accident.! I arrived in King of Prussia (outside Philly) last Saturday, and given there were no hostels i checked into the best western with a pool and stuff! luxury ! with a big queen size bed, and a pool!! i was straight in! But at 100 dollars a night that was short lived!! and the next day managed to secure a spot at the chamanounix Mansion hostel. Near Philly, very nice place with some really cool people. I was originally only booked in for a night thinking i could do Philly in a day, but hey i liked the place and the people so ended up staying an extra two nights, Was great, the place was an old colonial mansion which is now run by the state as a hostel for travellers, and at 20 dollars a night one cant complain, free wireless, good kitchen etc, but the beds were squeeky! but hey i can live with that. So explored the city, visited the Liberty Bell, etc, and the hall where the declaration of independence and the consitution were signed, went to betsy ross's house, she made the first american flag, and saw plenty of museums etc. They even have a restuaurant/ Tavern where all the staff are dressed in 1700's outfits.. good lunch there! On the river they happened to have an Irish Festival on... umm well the tourists seemed to love it, but in reality it was totally naff! think river dance meets john player tops!! (if your old enought to remember) with tinsel dresses!! umm very Orish!! and of cours the bud light stands!! was expecting a float sponsored by Duff Beer!! .. where is Homer when ye need him. So back to the hostel, and some chatting and watching Chronicals of Narnia on the big screen. Lion the witch and the wardrobe. So next day checked out the Eastern State Penatentary, Really quiet a grusome place, it was the first planned prison in the new US, bulit in the early 1800's it was the puritans idea that if you keep a prisioner in solatary with a bible he will see the error of his ways and return to the light.. Still it inspired the design of over 300 prisions around the world, and noted such guests as Charles Dickens and Scar face Al Capone. The place was closed in the 60's and the ruin is now as much a tourist attraction as it was when it first opened! Check out the pictures on the pictures section. Although it changed over the years, the first inmates could have spent up to 3 years there without speaking to anyone!! what a hell! Also did some touring with my swiss and south african friends and took the lift to the top of city hall for the view. The city is really class, it was layed out like an english country garden, with city hall in the middle, and each corner having a park. there is a diagonal that goes from the centre through one of the parks up the museum where the "rocky steps" are, ie the famous scene from the rocky film where he was running up the steps, there is even a staute at the bottom. We were informed that no trip to philly would be complete with out philly cheese steak sandwich!! so we tried it and i must say! very nice!! Decided to check out a film at the cinema, room 1408, but to our surpise there are no cinemas in the city centre, had to go out to dodgeville in west philly!! kinda boys in the hood neighbourhood!! but still got the "damn !!! your irish !! cool accent" as for the film, not bad, some jumpy moments, but typical stephen king.. hard to believe he wrote the shawshank redemption also..