After recovering for a few days from Road Trip a friend and I took a long hot drive to Philadelphia because my favourite sandwich is a Philly Cheese Steak and why not have it in Philly?  So he very kindly drove us the three hours – I had in my head it took an hour and a half.  We stopped along the way where I was introduced to Cinnabon which has massive cakes that look like deep filled chicken pie.  I couldn’t do it,  I had to choose the cheese steak there was too much riding on it.

Two rivals opposite each other Pats and Genos.  We went to the one with the bigger queue which was Pats.  The pressure was on to make sure the order was correct.  It seems there is an etiquette as to how to order and how to get it right.  The sandwich did not disappoint and was demolished probably a bit too quickly.  The kind of quick where you sit wondering just how loud your stomach can get digesting. Within half hour we were back on the road.  Five hours of driving for a sandwich, crazy I know.  But there wasn’t anything else to see in Philly on that baking hot day bar a wall with some street art so we left.

My favourite restaurant in Manhattan is Stanton Social on the lower East side.  It’s a place that does Tapas style food and Beauty and Essex is the sister restaurant around the corner.  They are a little bit up themselves in there unlike Stanton and so are the clientele.  I don’t like it really if the person asking you if you would like a drink is looking at you like a bored soon to be ex.

I don’t know if it’s a one-off or standard but in the ladies bathroom separated in a changing area they give away free champagne.  I delighted in taking this offering (tipping of course) and watching the look of amusement on my friends faces as they waited to get served and I swanned upstairs with a glass of bubbly.  Why we didn’t just traipse up and down all night I do not know.  The waitress wouldn’t have noticed.

Later in the week, I walked the Highline which apparently on, online dating is the equivalent of going to Borough Market in London, as in everyone does it.  It’s alright; kind of cool to see the city from a height, but not that mind-blowing however to walk on some concrete at a height.  If I had gone on a date there I would have been pissed right off.

But New York had to have a quick goodbye for a couple of weeks after that as I made the next journey to Vegas, Miami and Tampa Bay once more.