Fly from Nice to Philadelphia,

• Start at the beginning with a visit to Independence Hall. This small red-brick building is a historic landmark, as a witness to the US Declaration of Independence and, after years of struggle, the signing of the first Constitution. Access is free but limited.
• Get up close to America's most famous bell, the actual Liberty Bell. It is modest, cracked from top to bottom, but oh! how symbolic! it is said to have been rung during the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776. Unfortunately, its legend is far tougher than the alloy used to make this sacred relic.
• Climb the "Rocky Steps” that guard the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but above all, push open the doors of this magnificent museum. See sculptures by Rodin and paintings by Bosch, Botticelli, Delacroix, Manet, Matisse, Picasso and many others.
• Thank Albert C. Barnes for devoting his fortune to art, because you owe the impressive visit to the Barnes Foundation to him. On its walls - if you please! -Van Gogh, Cézanne, Picasso, Renoir, Soutine, Degas and Modigliani. Among others!
• Stroll through the streets of Fishtown. This former industrial district is now one of the most popular neighbourhoods in the city, with its trendy restaurants and cafés, beer garden terraces (summer bars), good nightlife and numerous works of street art.
• Go to jail (without collecting twenty thousand dollars )! Less famous than Sing Sing or Alcatraz, the Eastern State Penitentiary is nevertheless the first penitentiary in history. It counted Al Capone as an inmate but closed its doors in 1971. It is now a museum that is said to be haunted. Quite impressive. Not to say... chilling!
• Cast off and climb aboard a glorious US Navy veteran: the USS New Jersey. Launched at the end of 1942 and retired sixty years later, this battleship saw action in the Pacific, Korea, Vietnam and even the Lebanese civil war. It is now a museum.
• Right in the centre of Philly, sample the products from Amish farms that delight punters at the Reading Terminal Market, one of the oldest covered markets in the USA. This place is as colourful as it is delicious. To find out more about this community that lives outside time and the world, there are organised tours of Lancaster County. On the programme: meetings, shopping, but no photos. It is forbidden!
• Taste the famous Philly cheesesteak, which replaces burgers, bagels and hot dogs. What is it? A sandwich with minced beef, melted cheese and onions (and/or mushrooms). Where can you find this? At Geno's Steaks or Pat's King of Steaks, the two institutions of the genre.
• Leave Philadelphia for a guided tour of Gettysburg National Military Park. This was the site of the biggest battle of the American Civil War. It descended into slaughter, but the Yankee victory shaped the face of America and, one could argue, the world.

Here's a tip: a few weeks before your direct flight from Nice to Philadelphia, put on your trainers and do plenty of jogging to stay in top form once you're on the other side of the Atlantic. With your friends or family, like thousands of holidaymakers before you, you can indulge in an exercise that anyone visiting the city must do: trot up the seventy-two steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, singing Gonna Fly Now, in the style of... Rocky Balboa, the boxer created and played by Sylvester Stallone !

This legendary scene from America’s film history is just one of Philly's many contributions to US culture. With almost a hundred different museums, over four thousand works of street art (some even claim there are five thousand), and a musical flair that has made it one of the hubs of soul music, the Pennsylvanian city cultivates all kinds of talent. Its intellectual aura goes back a long way, as it has been known as the Athens of America since the 18th century. As a fertile ground for many scholars and thinkers, such as Benjamin Franklin, it saw the birth of the United States and its Constitution, and the rise of the first anti-slavery movements. These causes do honour to its name: Philadelphia means fraternal friendship in ancient Greek.