The City of Brotherly Love

To keep things interesting I decided I needed to go on a day trip -  to "Philadelphia". Philly is only a two hour coach ride from Manhattan. I looked at the different possible options to get to Philly (Amtrak train or coach) and decided the coach would be much cheaper. In fact the return trip by coach was a third of the price of the train ($36 coach ride vs $100 train).

In New York City there are lots of different coach companies that do express trips to the various states near NYC, and they are cheap. The coaches are nice and clean, and the seats are roomy, so the two hours on the coach went really fast. In fact, for someone who normally can't sleep whilst travelling, I caught a few z's.

The coach dropped me off at Philly's 30th Train Station (Philly's version of Grand Central Station), and where I wanted to go was to where it all started. I wanted to get to the "Old City". So I needed to take a subway downtown. The subway in Philadelphia still uses tokens so you need to make sure that you have the right money on you to buy the tokens as the machines do not give any change.

Once in the "old city" the first place I stopped in at was the Visitor's Centre to work out "my game plan" for the day. This centre was amazing. They had several theatres that showed historical documentaries about Philadelphia, they had the National Parks information bureau kiosk where you could ask all types of questions about what to see, and where to go. They had a hotel concierge so if you needed to book accommodation there was someone who could recommend where to stay based on budget and what to you wanted to see, and there were several little kiosks where you could buy food and drink.

With my game plan in check I headed out of the Visitor's Centre and directly across the road to my first stop - the presidential home of 1st (George Washington) and 2nd president (John Adams) of the United States.

You may be asking yourself, "I thought the President lived in Washington"? Well, what you may not realise is that "certain political figures" wanted Philadelphia to be the political capital of the US, however other political figures wanted New York to be the capital. (I have a funny feeling that Philly had the "Melbourne" complex to the New York "Sydney" complex way back in the late 1700's....hehehe). So what was eventually agreed upon was that a separate area (Washing DC) would be created however in the interim Philadelphia would be used.

Getting back to the President's residence......it is no longer standing today, however what they have done is created a facade of the house where you can walk through it reading all about the type of people George Washington and John Adams were, and you can even look down a closed in area to view the structural remains of the original house.

The open facade of the type of house that the first and second president of the United States lived in.

The structural remains of the actual house.

Next, I went to see the "Liberty Bell". What is the "Liberty Bell" famous for I hear you ask? The Liberty Bell rang out from the tower of Independence Hall to tell the citizens of Philadelphia to come and hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. The Bell achieved its iconic status when abolitionists adopted the Bell as a symbol for the movement (anti slavery movement). In fact, it was the abolitionists who gave it the name "Liberty Bell" in reference to its inscription. It was previously named the "State House bell".

The Liberty Bell.

"Yours Truly" with the Liberty Bell.  

Next, I went onto Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was created and signed. It took Thomas Jefferson approximately 14 days to write. He had help from Benjamin Franklin (the inventor of the  the lightning rod, bi-focals and the first lending library. He was also a modern day Minster for Foreign Affairs), John Adams (the 2nd President of the United States), Roger Sherman (American Lawyer/Politician and the first mayor of New Haven, Connecticut ) and Robert Livingston (American Lawyer/Politician and a diplomat from New York).

Independence Hall

The original inkwell used to signed the Declaration of Independence.

The room where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where the first President (George Washington) resided over government. The brown wooden chair facing the group of desks (directly under the chandelier) is the original chair that George Washington sat in.

Now, prior to the Declaration of Independence and the revolutionary war, the US was governed by the British system, so across from this famous hall is the official law court.

From Independence Hall I walked a couple of blocks down to Betsy Ross' house. Betsy was the lady that made the very first American flag. Betsy was a dressmaker, and when George Washington asked her to make it she had to do it in her bedroom at night because the rebels were still fighting the British, and if a British solider walked by her shop and saw her working on the flag she would have been shot for treason against the British Empire.

The room where she supposedly made the flag

Betsy and her husbands grave.

Betsy along with her third husband (the other two died) are buried in the garden at her house.

When going to her house I recommend that you take the audio tour. It only costs $6.00 and is well worth it. You learn fun trivial things like, the reasons behind why the flag has 5 pointed stars.... the answer - it was easier for Betsy to cut out and make a five pointed star as opposed to a six. 

Also scattered throughout the house are fun facts to read about but you have to look out for them. For instance, why were the ceilings so low in houses back then.......are you thinking, well," because people we not so tall back then (due to lack of nutrition)", nope. In fact, it is said that George Washington stood just over 6 feet tall. The reason is because it cost a lot to heat and warm a room so they made them smaller.

After Betsy's house I then went on to find Benjamin Franklin's grave. Now the cemetery is only open certain times of the day, if, it is a sunny day. If it is a wet day, or it has been raining the day before the cemetery will not be open. 

Unfortunately it was not open the day I was there but, you can still see his grave. He is buried right on the edge of the cemetery.

Benjamin Franklin's grave.

There is a strange tradition that when you pass his grave to throw a penny onto it and it is meant to bring the penny tosser luck. The custom relates to the cliche attributed to Franklin and in his "Poor Richards Alamac" -  "A penny saved: is a penny earned".  

My last and final stop was Hard Rock - I couldn't go to a cool rockin' city like Philadelphia (musicians to come out of Philly are: Patty LaBelle, Taylor Swift, Pink, Will Smith, Chubby Checker, Billie Holiday) without heading to it's Hard Rock. I had my usual burger and then headed back up to 30th Train Station to get the coach back to Manhattan.

Inside Hard Rock

I love this photo - the modern "Amtrack" building and the old 30th Stree Station.
I just love the contrast in Architecture.