Tavern on Camac is a gay bar and nightclub in Center City that serves great cocktails, and transforms into a live piano bar several nights a week. The pianist always takes requests and has a huge selection of sheet music to choose from, plus mikes for anyone intrepid enough to join him - it starts slow, but by the end of the night everyone's up and singing! This is where we drowned our sorrows the night GW won again, despite our best efforts. As I wrote at the time: "We let it all out at one of Philadelphia's wonderful piano bars, with a pianist who was slightly surprised when fifteen drunken tearful Brits and their American friends settled in for a night of Cosmopolitans and howling along with country music."

www.tavernoncamac.com/ 243 Camac Street, Philadelphia, 19107

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Bump is a gay/mixed bar and restaurant in Center City. Go for happy hour (5-7pm) when all cocktails are $3, or go later for dinner. I recommend the crab cakes with remoulade, rice and wilted spinach.

1234 Locust Street Philadelphia 19107;
www.bumplounge.com

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Giovanni's Room is a three-floor extravaganza of lesbian and gay literature, spread over three floors in the heart of Philadelphia's Center City "gaybourhood".

345 South 12th Street;
www.giovannisroom.com

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Philadelphia is where the US Constitution was written and signed, making it a major tourist attraction not just for school parties. The area around Independence Hall, where it was actually signed, is devoted to telling the history of the site and the constitution. Most attention is focused on visiting the Liberty Bell and being guided around the historical buildings, but I enjoyed the museum devoted to the constitution much more.

'Museum' makes it sound dusty and antiquated, but what this is, is a multi-media festival, charting the history of the United States through the constitution, its upholders and detractors, and the battle to amend it. The experience starts with a live-action show, telling visitors about the circumstances that led up to the signing of the Constitution. You then go up to the gallery, where interactive displays allow visitors to be sworn in as President or become a Supreme Court Justice, and there are sound and visual displays alongside more traditional glass cases of artefacts. The story is told through the battles of the times - about slavery and states' rights, votes for women, prohibition, desegregation and civil rights, the Equal Rights amendment, right up to the present-day debate about gay marriage.

After travelling through the displays, visitors get a chance to add their names to the constitution, in the giant visitors' book, standing among the statues of the original signers. I can't think of a UK museum that so powerfully demonstrates the impact of politics and political decisions. This is a must-see on any visit to Philadelphia, for adults and children alike.

www.constitutioncenter.org/

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