The gaudiness of Philadelphia’s cheesesteak mecca has always seemed a bit odd to us, considering that the cheesesteak itself is such a workaday food. It also strikes us as odd every time we walk past in the daytime, and see people pressing their faces into hot yellow cheese in the noonday sun, as though what what they were doing wasn’t just a little bit repulsive and best done under cover of night, when inhibitions are down. Now you can even participate in the whole shameful affair from your mobile device, thanks to the new virtual reality tours being rolled out by Visit Philly.

Soon, these little interactive-ish videos will be integrated into the larger tourism infrastructure, enticing people to see the sites and connecting them to hotel reservations and the like. For now, you can see a preview on your phone, if you download the necessary VR app. The tour takes you to Elfreth’s Alley, the Ben Franklin Bridge, Independence Hall, the Art Museum, Reading Terminal Market, and the Art Museum, among other places. Sometimes the photographer himself is in the shot.

We also seem to have come across the location-scouting notes that the photographer was using. See the note below on this shot of Rittenhouse Square.

Unimpressive, eh? Yeah, well, up yours too, buddy.