Eye of the Tiger

After a hearty, yet unsatisfying breakfast of waffles at the hotel, the first port of call was the Liberty Bell.  We didn't learn a great deal here, other than the fact Americans love it for some reason.  After some obligatory photos of the bell the next stop was across the road at Independence Hall. We got a guided tour here and saw the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Upon leaving the hall I overheard the guide telling someone where the "Rocky" steps were.  We had forgotten that one of the greatest movies ever made was filmed in this city, so the next 30 minutes was spent finding where the fabled steps were and how to get there.  After some indecision about whether to take public transport we decided on the American way and we drove.

We reached the steps and we of course (well the boys anyway) had to do the run up complete with air punching and arm raising along with about 100 other people.  Philadelphia was not as grey or miserable as it was portrayed in the movie, and after a surprisingly tasty lunch at a nearby pub full of locals watching NFL, we left the city of brotherly love behind and headed for DC.

In Washington we decided to select our accommodation from the Airbnb website we had heard so much about. We scored ourselves a two bed apartment in a town just out of DC called Alexandria, Sam in particular was very happy about the separate rooms for the first time in a week.

As we had a kitchen in the apartment, a home cooked meal and a few beers was the order of the night, so off we went to the local supermarket, which was interesting to say the least.  The first thing we heard as we came around the corner was the Spanish music outside blaring, and was regularly interrupted by a loud siren, this should have been a clue to what we found inside.  The door to the supermarket must have been a teleport to Mexico as we were the only non-mexicans in the place.  We put this behind us and tried to find some recognisable food,  we settled for purchasing ingredients for a Spag Bol with a mexican twist, beer, canned margaritas and to top it all off 2 cans of Four Loko.

The spag bol and beers were great, the Four Loko on the other hand not so much.  The best way to describe it would be 12% alcohol pink medicine, safe to say we only had one can, before heading off to bed.