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| Independence Hall |
April 29, 2017 (Saturday)
The hotel had a huge breakfast spread! After breakfast, we headed to the Independence Visitor Center to get tickets for the Independence Hall. We were able to get tickets for the 9am tour (free). If you visit this site, you will need to get there 15 minutes before the tour time to go through security. There are a few other buildings to check out in the Independence Square area – Great Essentials Exhibit in the West Wing, Congress Hall, Old City Hall and the Museum of the American Philosophical Society (not open during our visit). Honestly, I did not find any of the buildings to be overly impressive on the inside, but the guides were very informative in letting us know the importance of the buildings.
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| Edgar Allen Poe NHS |
Leaving Independence Square, we headed to Washington Park. There was a fountain and a memorial. Once we were done at the park, we walked to the Edgar Allen Poe NHS. It was a bit of a walk and the neighborhood was not nearly as nice as the Old Town area. The Poe House was interesting. The visitor center is in the neighbor’s house, where there were a few displays and a short video before entering the Poe House. The house was just bare rooms, which was different than most historical homes that we have visited. There was a guide sheet that told us a little about each room. The house was only occupied by Poe for six years, but during those years is when Poe write his more well-known books.
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| Society Hill |
Leaving the Poe house, we made the trek across town to the Society Hill area – gorgeous homes!! Our destination was the smallest Nation Park System Unit – the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial. Again there was a short video that shared the background of Kosciusko – highlighting his military engineering success. He was an interesting guy that you probably have not heard much about – probably because his last name is tricky to pronounce. He rented a room out of the house where he received notable visitors like Thomas Jefferson.
Prior to leaving the site, we asked the Park Ranger for recommendations for lunch. He suggested that we check out DiNic’s Beef & Pork in the Reading Terminal Market. The sandwiches we had were awesome! We also got cookies at the Famous 4th St. Cookie Co. – yum! The Market was very neat, similar to the place we went to in Napa only much larger! There were lots of food options among other things like bakerys, ice cream, chocolate, seafood and fish markets, and produce! More than 100,000 people visit the Market on a weekly basis!
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| NFL Draft Experience!! |
Near the Reading Terminal Market was the Hard Rock Café. You guessed it, Mike needed to add to his Zippo Collection! Continuing on our journey, we arrived at the NFL Draft. We arrived at a good time, with no lines at security. There were a lot of activities for fans to check out – Superbowl Rings, Statues, Locker Room displays, Hall of Fame stuff, 40-yard dash, kick a field goal, pass the ball, autograph signings, the NFL store, and of course viewing the draft stage. While we were there Detroit selected the 165 pick, we were able to get really close to the area behind the reserved seats. We had a great time at the draft! We could have spent more time, but it was 87 degrees out and we had other things to do. The draft took place right where the Rocky stairs were so we were not able to run up them, giving us a reason to visit the city of brotherly love again! There were also a few other things that we would like to check out on a future visit – apparently the Penitentiary has a really good tour and there were a few other NPS sites we did not get to visit.
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| NFL Draft Experience!! |
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| Liberty Bell |
Once we were back to the Old City area, we got in line to see the Liberty Bell. Again, we had to go thru security (3 times in one day – might be a record). The line was short and we made it to the bell in no time. As expected the bell was roped off. The building that the bell is located in has a few displays to look at before you reach the bell. There are also displays outside of the Liberty Bell Center.
Leaving the Liberty Bell, we headed back to the Independence Visitor Center to watch the two videos that were available. Also in the Visitor Center were other displays, as well as a snack bar, and ticket counter for other sites around the city.
We visited way more stuff than we had anticipated and walked a lot of miles. We headed back to the hotel for a little break before heading to dinner. For dinner, we picked a place right around the corner from where we stayed, called Race Street Café. The place was busy and the food was just okay.
April 30, 2017 (Sunday)
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| The newly opened Museum of the American Revolution |
The Museum of the American Revolution opened a few weeks before our visit and we decided to check it out. Tickets are given out on a timed basis. The museum was $19 for adults, but there is an AAA discount available that will save you a buck or two. Youth (6-18) were $12. I personally think kids would be bored at the main museum – however there is a kid friendly area on the main level that they would probably enjoy. The museum visit begins with a film titled Revolution. We arrived in time for the 9:30am film – the film is shown on the half hour. We spent about 2.5 hours checking out everything the museum had to offer. The place is divided into four main galleries – Becoming Revolutionaries (1760-1775), The Darkest Hour (1776-1778), A Revolutionary War (1778-1783) and A New Nation (1783-present). Each gallery had short films that were played. The highlight is Washington’s War Tent (original).
I’ll wrap this post up with a few fun facts about Philadelphia! Philadelphia was the first of many things - first “planned city”, had the first public library, the first capital of the United States, first Mint in the United States, first zoo, and first computer - just to name a few!
