Well, right now I'm in the middle of a visit to Disney World, but...Hold on!
I never told you about my visit to Philadelphia, did I?
No problem...we have the technology to fix that.
Set your clocks for 4:16, October 6, 2016 and...
FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS!!!
After four days in Cape Cod,we left for Philadelphia. The trip was an easy five-hour drive...
that actually took about eight hours. East Coast traffic, emergency potty breaks
and some "creative navigation" made for a stressful trip, especially for my Dad!
I thought it was funny when we finally got to the Philly parking garage
and the ticket machine jammed, trapping us at the garage entrance during rush-hour traffic!
We couldn't get through the gate to park, and we couldn't back up to find another spot!
I though it was funny, but Dad wasn't laughing. More "special words". LOL!
After about fifteen minutes, a guy came and fixed the machine, and we were able to park.
We finally arrived at the hotel. It was a cool place!
We were staying right downtown, in the middle of Philly's tallest skyscrapers.
Through the hotel's glass roof you could see my Dad's favorite parking garage!
After four days of Cape Cod seafood I was ready for something different to eat.
We shared some delicious ribs and the best mac & cheese in the world!
After dinner, there was time for a little sightseeing. We saw some cool art...
...street performers...
...and a cool indoor market. The place was huge!
My Dad said it reminded him of Seattle's Pike Place Market.
Look at all that fish!
The fish stand had just about everything. All fresh from the sea!
The crabs I'm looking at were still alive!
This place had amazing hand-made chocolates!
And the pastries here were incredible.
Seeing all this was making me hungry again...
Dessert time!
In just a few hours I'd seen so much cool stuff.
I couldn't imagine what tomorrow's historical tour of Philly would be like...
The Constitution Center was where my guided tour started the next day.
One Country, One Constitution, One Destiny.
After the tour I understood what that meant a lot better...
We walked from the Constitution Center toward Independence Hall.
On the way, we passed by...
...the Liberty Bell!
Around the world, this is seen as a symbol of freedom for all...
...so it was strange to see a monument to the anti-slavery movement
as a part of the Liberty Bell exhibit. It really made me think.
I learned that Philadelphia was our first capital, and that George Washington
had lived here as president, not in Washington, D.C.
These are the names of the slaves that George Washington brought with him to Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania was a free state at the time, but Washington found
a loop hole in the law by taking his slaves out of Pennsylvania every six months.
Some of these slaves escaped to freedom during Washington's presidency.
It was very confusing to think that the men who fought for the freedom of their country
would not allow their servants to live as free men.
This is the Second Bank of Philadelphia.
It's an art gallery today.
This is the part of Philly where Ben Franklin lived. See that alley way?
Pretty cool, huh? I got to walk in the footsteps of Ben Franklin!
This plaque lists Ben Franklin's accomplishments.
Our country's first public library, first fire department, first magazine.
First to use electricity for a battery (jars of charged water).
Signed the Declaration of Independence and attended the Constitutional Convention.
And here is where he was buried, in Christ Church Cemetery.
Lots of other Founding Fathers were buried here, including four signers of the Declaration:
Francis Hopkinson, Joseph Hewes, George Ross, Benjamin Rush (also the Father of Psychology).
Ben Franklin said, "A penny saved is a penny earned". Ever wonder where pennies are made?
I got to see how pennies (and nickles, dimes & quarters) are made.
The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia is the first of six mints where U.S. money is made.
You're not allowed to take pictures inside the mint, but trust me, it's a cool place!
Speaking of cool places...
All this learning made me hungry. You can;t visit Philadelphia without eating...
A Philly Cheese Steak! Time to pig out!
Later that night, I took another tour. It was a ghost tour of Philadelphia.
As we wandered the streets of Old Philadelphia, I learned about Edgar Allen Poe,
the Yellow Fever outbreak, weird surgery methods, and some scary stories about
the ghosts of people that had died terrible deaths.
It was lots of fun and a perfect end to my visit to Philadelphia.
Well, thanks for being patient with me catching up on my blog posts.
I'll share some of my Disney World pictures soon. Until then...
SEE YOU NEXT TIME!
Wow, it looks like you packed a lot in on your visit to Philly!
ReplyDeleteYou really need to learn what written in the constitution. If the people of our great nation don't know, then our elected officials can more easily mislead us! ;)