Philadelphia

Rush hour traffic into Philadelphia wasn't too bad and we found the parking garage under the Independence Visitor Center on our second try. Not bad! That got us into the Visitor Center around 9:15 where we were able to pick up our free tickets for a 1pm tour of Independence Hall and tickets for the 1 hour and 45 minute tour of the City on the "Big Bus Tour" bus. The bus tour left at 10am so we had a few minutes to just look around.

Independence Visitor Center.  Maybe you can see a line of kids passing before the building.  There were school tours everywhere we went. It was also good to see the American flag flying; we're not in the South anymore. Nice wide, open space with flower beds and trees (which you can't see in this picture), maintained by the National Park Service, 

View across the street from the Visitor's Center to Independence Hall.

This is Manny, our tour guide on the Big Bus Tour.  We rode on the top of a double decker bus. There were people from Quebec, Ireland, Switzerland, India, Great Britain Scotland, Germany and Sweden on our tour.  There was also a couple from New York who introduced themselves to us when they heard we were from Rhode Island.  They have a summer home in Narragansett (1st RI connection).

The oldest, continuously occupied street in America, says Manny. It is a very narrow, almost alley width, street with very narrow buildings because you were taxed on the street frontage of your house.

Philadelphia has the third largest China Town in the country, after New York and San Francisco. This gate was a gift and is held together just by having the pieces notched together.  There are no nails or other fastenings.

Beautiful City Hall in downtown Philadelphia. This is actually the side view of the building. This is the largest City Hall in the world.

That's William Penn on the top of City Hall.

"The Steps" of the Philadelphia Museum of Art made famous by Rocky Balboa  running up the stairs when he was training for his boxing match in the movie "Rocky". Those are school kids running down the stairs in imitation of Rocky.  Manny says that there are people running up the stairs all day long.

Statue of Rocky Balboa in front of the Museum - a boxer with his arms raised in victory. Manny said it is the most photographed statue in Philadelphia.

Huge fountain in Love Park in front of City Hall. The Park has a "Love" sculpture by Robert Indiana, the one that consists of the letters LO over the letters VE; the O is canted sideways so its oblong. The image was adopted by skateboard enthusiasts after skateboarding was banned in this park.

Eating our lunch under the trees that border the green lawn in front of the Independence Visitor Center.

On our way to Independence Hall, built as the Pennsylvania State House. Our tickets were for the 1pm tour but we had to arrive 20 minutes early so that we could go through security.

Picture in the East Wing where we were herded (100 people) for the beginning of the tour.

This is Ray our tour guide who is a National Park employee.  He had a booming voice and told the history of the Continental Congresses, Declaration of Independence and Constitutional Convention in a very straightforward and understandable way.

The Court Room in Independence Hall. There are only two items in Independence Hall that are original, this State of Pennsylvania seal is one.

Ray demonstrating how someone "stood" trial in the 1700s.

Room where the Declaration of Independence was debated and the Constitutional Convention took place.

Glass chandelier in the room,

The second original item, the chair where George Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention.

Staircase to the second floor. 

Statue of John Barry, Father of the U.S. Navy, in the back courtyard of Independence Hall.

This is Marion. We had a very nice conversation with her as we stood the 20+ minutes in line to enter the Liberty Bell Center. (RI connection II.  Her son was a journalist for the Providence Journal about 12 years ago. )

Inside the Liberty Bell Center viewing a variety of exhibits.

Standing next to The Liberty Bell.

John and Lori in the Liberty Bell Center.

While we were eating lunch we could see this door and window frame across the street and wondered what it was.  It is the President's House Site where George Washington and John Adams lived when Philadelphia was the site of the U.S. Capitol for ten years while Washington D.C was being built. There is an archeological site that has uncovered the foundation of the house on this site.