Liberty Bell

Philadelphia

March 29, 2009

The first stop on my tour was the historical city of Philadelphia. Originally, when I started putting the trip together, it was not even on the itinerary. But, as I was figuring out the best routes and flights and costs, it entered the picture.

Philadelphia was the Colonial History part of the Tour.

I arranged to stay at the Best Western on Chestnut Street in downtown Philadelphia, a few blocks from all of the historical stuff. Even though it was a bit pricy, I loved the building and the location. I left San Diego on March 28 and flew first to New York and then caught a flight down to Philadelphia. My luggage decided to stay an extra night in New York, however; the Delta counter, which was in NO WAY responsible for this (it was American Airlines' fault all the way as they did not deliver my suitcase to Delta in time for the flight) was very kind and gave me one of those kits they give you when your luggage is misplaced.

I arrived after the sun had gone down, so it was a bit of an adventure trying to find the hotel in an unknown city with a strange rental car. But after a wrong turn or two, I eventually got there. I ended up eating down the street at Rotten Ralph's. The food was good, but the main attraction was that it looked interesting and was within walking distance of the hotel.

Independence Hall (from the back)

On Sunday, March 29th, I got up early and walked about 3 blocks over to the Visitor's Center to pick up my ticket for my tour of Independence Hall. At that time, it was overcast and misty/drizzling, not very fine weather at all. The picture you see of Independence Hall on this page was taken about 6 hours later when the sun had come out and the temperature had warmed up. (And after my luggage had arrived as well.) Independence Hall is the building where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution was begun (and possibly completed - my memory fails me on this point).

Inside Independence Hall

You must have a ticket to tour the Hall. I believe it costs $1 or so (at least, it was that amount when I went). A Ranger takes a large group into the Hall, imparts some history, and you get to see a Hallway and 2 downstairs rooms. The one above is where I believe the Constitution was worked on but I could be mistaken (it is about 1 year after my visit that I am actually writing this). The tour itself takes about 1/2 hour, tops.

After the tour, I went next door to Congress Hall. A different Ranger spoke about this building - I remember he seemed very enthusiastic about what he was imparting to us. I would see him later when I went on the tour of the Art Gallery in the 2nd National Bank - more on that later.

Until the federal government moved to what is now Washington D.C., it resided in Philadelphia in Congress Hall. Downstairs, the House of Representatives met in a large, dark room with very uncomfortable benches/seats. It reminded me of a small auditorium with fixed seating. At the front of the room was a podium of sorts. All of the furniture looked lovely, however, as it was made of wood. I like wood furniture. Upstairs was where the Senate met. That room was much more colorful, cozy, and had much more light. The chairs had cushions. The stairs up were steep and not very wide, although the staircase itself was wide. I would have much rather been up here day after day then in the room downstairs with the uncomfortable furniture.

That tour concluded after about 45 minutes and I crossed the street to the museum housing the Liberty Bell. Still rainy, still overcast at this point. Getting into the glass-walled museum, as well as Independence and Congress Halls, required going through a metal detector and having your bags scanned or inspected. I guess a lot of crazy people exist who would want to damage these places - not sure why but then that is why they are called crazy, no?

I had no idea of the appeal, the actual love that the Liberty Bell has not only in the United States but around the world. The Bell actually goes on tours to other places, and is regarded as a symbol of Freedom. Perhaps more than the any other item or relic within the United States. The museum which houses the Bell has an extensive display of just what the Bell means to people. I was, frankly, amazed.

The Bell itself is cordoned off. A guard stands nearby. No one is allowed near the Bell.

After visiting the museum, I went off to visit other historical sites nearby. On a nearby corner is the Free Quaker Meeting House, where I briefly stopped in to talk with a man who was stationed there as a historical reinactment. I walked over to Franklin Court, the site of Benjamin Franklin's house, rental property, and an underground museum. No pictures of either.

Ben is VERY big in Philadelphia! (And, no, that is not Ben on the left, that is George Washington from the Portrait Gallery.)

At Franklin Court, the actual Franklin House no longer exists. However, a frame has been erected to show where is was located and what it looked like (as much as a frame can). Franklin's rental property still exists - this is a multi-unit building along Market Street which I believe Ben rented out. The museum is underneath the property, an interesting place for a museum.

Carpenter's Hall

I continued onto Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, which is a house where he resided. The sun came out on my walk down to the house, which was about 1 mile away through Society Hill from the rest of the historical buildings. I stopped in briefly at Carpenter's Hall and went back to Independence Hall to take more pictures now that the sun was out.

At 3 p.m. I was at the former Second Bank of the United States building. It obviously no longer functions in that capacity. What it does now is house a portrait gallery of historical persons from the time of the Revolutionary War (or thereabouts). However, you cannot just walk in and visit. You have to go on a tour, which costs nothing but is only held at certain times. I had heard of the 3 p.m. tour during the earlier tour of Congress Hall (the same Ranger that led that Tour was here for this one). Also present and giving the talk for the tour was a docent dressed up as Abigail Adams. She kept in characters as Abigail throughout the Tour and told stories about people in the portraits and statues.

"Abigail" led us through the gallery - which contains a awful lot of portraits and statues - and told us stories. What I remember is that the Adamses apparently had some sort of falling out with Thomas Jefferson, and that John Adams himself seemed very modest and humble. Of course, given who was telling the stories, some sort of bias probably existed.

This tour, my final one, lasted about 1 and 1/2 hours. I stopped off at a bistro of sorts very close by for lunch/dinner and went back to my hotel room to discover my luggage was there. Hooray! I also fell asleep and woke up in the middle of a thunderstorm a couple of hours later. We just don't have that kind of weather in San Diego.

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