So today has been quite the day, ending our vacation in Philly and also our one year wedding anniversary. I’m typing this into a offline document while flying over the US. We’re probably not even halfway to our destination yet – the clock says 8:51 and I’m pretty sure that we’ve only left about an hour ago – and it’s a 4 hour flight. It’s going to be a long haul and we’re already exhausted from all the sightseeing we did over the weekend. I think that we maximized our time in Philly for sure, with the help of the Fodor’s guide book!
On Saturday, we took the day to explore the historic part. We set an alarm for 9am (should have done it earlier, but hey, we were on vacation!) and then had a nice breakfast in the hotel’s dining room. It was a little pricey for a breakfast buffet, but at least the food was good. Then we walked several blocks to the Visitor’s Information Center so that we could get timed tickets for Independence Hall tours. The tickets were free, but we needed them to “sign up” for a tour, so-to-speak. Our tour was scheduled for 2:15 so we had several hours to kill. There were some exhibits in the center that we looked at before moseying on. We decided to take our first stop at the Liberty Bell Pavilion. We saw a bunch of people lined up but we weren’t sure what for. Turns out it was to get into the pavilion… so we turned around and joined the end of the line. It actually wasn’t more than a ten minute wait because they take a couple dozen people at once. Inside were some informational wall things and some knickknacks and photographs about the bell. Some history and stuff. The coolest part was the little doohickeys they have on display that were made out of pieces of the bell. Things like buttons and walking canes. Very neat.
Finally after about 15 minutes of looking at random stuff, we saw the bell. It was a little tiny bit smaller than I was expecting, but still kinda neat. There was a ranger talking about it a little (including a introspective “what the bell means to me” anecdote) and then everyone crowded in for pictures. We got our pictures and headed out – too crowded!
After that, we sort of wandered around the historic area. We saw the reconstruction of the first Library, complete with statue of Ben Franklin in a toga. Unfortunately, the library is closed on weekends, otherwise we would have gone in. We walked to the back and saw a nice little park. There were some birds and a squirrel that were quite accustomed to people. The squirrel got really close. He was pretty cute, so we took a picture. Then we went around to the front of the Second Bank, which was next to the Library. Inside was a gallery exhibition of Philadelphians. A lot of it was done by the same artist, Charles William Peale. Mostly portraits. The coolest things about the interior was the marble floors, in my opinion.
After that we briefly stopped to use the restrooms on the advice of the ranger who gave us our Independence Hall tickets and went through security to go on our tour. We were 45 minutes early, but we didn’t really have the time to do anything else at that point since there was walking involved to any other destination. Independence Hall is divided into the East and West Wings. Our tour was for the West Wing, so we looked in on the East Wing while waiting. It pretty much just had the Declaration of Independence (a fascimile – the real thing was being cleaned or whatever it is they do to it) and then there was a (real) US Constitution. Plus lots more informational plaques.
More waiting in the hot weather later, we went into our tour. It started out sitting in a little room, with a painting depicting the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We played a little guessing game with the ranger, when he pointed out some famous faces and had us guess. Ben Franklin was a little obvious since his face is plastered EVERYWHERE, but George Washington was only obvious because of his placement in the picture (rising sun chair in the back center) – both me and Mike later commented that he looked an awful lot like our current president.
So then we went into the courthouse part of Independence Hall, and saw where the judges sat, the jury and the cage where the accused “stood” trial. It was pretty neat. I especially liked the court journalist’s chair, I think it would make a very nice painting, personally.
(Ugh we just hit turbulance.. I hate airplanes…)
After the court room, we saw the actual room where the Declaration of Independence was signed, and also the US Constitution. It was set up to look just like it did in the painting. The chandelier with the candles was very cool, and I tried to take a picture of the rising sun chair, but it was sorta hard to get one in focus so far away – my camera isn’t so hot. And… that was the end of the tour. We got some pictures and were off. By then, I was starting to feel headachy from the heat and from the lack of food. It was around 3pm by then so we hadn’t eaten in several hours. We could have caught a tour of the Congress Hall in ten minutes, but we decided to get food instead at the Cuban place. (We didn’t end up going Friday night, and instead found a place in Chinatown – much closer to our hotel. It was good, too.)
When we got there, they were already serving dinner and the menu was shockingly expensive. We ended up splitting a Cuban sandwich (El Cubano) and a mojito. It was a pretty nice looking restaurant and I imagine if we ever end up back in Philly we’ll go there for a full meal and not just a snack. After that we stopped at Franklin Square since it was on the way to the rest of the historic stuff. It was pretty cool actually. There was a post office and printing press museum that we skipped on, but the courtyard itself was pretty. There was an archway with roses growing on it, some trees “potted” in brick squares, and “ghost” structures supposed to be the size of Ben Franklin’s printing office and home. They showed the supposed floor plan and had windows showing underground foundations that were excavated of his former home. Stone slabs on the ground had engravings to tell you what part of the house you would have been standing in, along with other slabs that had various quotes about his home, the building of it, and just other random stuff. There was also an underground museum that had pretty much everything Ben Franklin in it, including a small theatre (was closed by the time we arrived) that showcased the Disney short, Ben and Me (a personal favorite!). There were models of buildings, a little “show” with a voiceover and moveable wooden dolls, and a series of phones that you could pick up and dial to “hear” one of Franklin’s contemporaries. I didn’t do that part but Mike said it was lame. They also had a hallway with things they either think were used by Franklin (desks, etc) or were approximations or replications of things he had possessed. Very neat.
After that I was getting sort of tired and it was getting to be near 5pm when all of the historic things were shutting down for the evening. We decided to just head back to the hotel and rest before getting ready for our big date at the Ristorante Panorama. We watched My Best Friend’s Wedding on TBS on one of our large TVs and vegged. Around 7 we got ready and walked down several blocks to get to our restaurant for our 8pm reservations. We hurried a little bit (even though it turned out we definitely hadn’t needed to) and saw a few more sights as we passed. We saw some of the churches that our guidebook mentioned (like the Quaker meeting house) and also Christ Church’s burial ground, where Ben Franklin’s grave (and that of his wife) was. There was some cast iron spokes there so you could see it through the wall, instead of the brick wall that surrounded the rest of the place. A bunch of people had thrown pennies on it, which is supposed to bring good luck. We passed.
The guidebook map was wrong for the third time on this restaurant location. (Thank goodness it included the street addresses, or we would have been unduly frustrated.) It was a block (or more) off on EVERY restaurant. Someone needs to write in to that company and let them know. (I know, I know… give me a second!) Anyways, we get there wit about five minute to spare, and the hostess says that it’s going to be a little wait for our table. So we wait in the bar area (creatively called “Il Bar”.. nope, not joking…) for about 50 minutes. The hostess was about to seat us in a corner that another couple had just refused because it was next to a really noisy party of about 8, and also it was in the bar area which was noisy anyways. Mike requested that we get seated in the main dining room, so that was another little wait. Eventually, we got a nice table in the back of the dining room. We had a great meal and I had some awesome Pinot Grigio. We had a smoked salmon appetizer, pasta for our entrees, and then topped it off with some gelato for dessert. We “exchanged” anniversary gifts, too. I say “exchanged” because Mike gave me mine (tickets to see John Mayer! Yay!) and I told him the two things I was planning to get him and had him choose. (I’m lame, yes, I know!!)
Then we walked home, completely forgetting that we had quasi-planned to take a horse-drawn carriage ride after dinner! Oh well. Maybe next time. We pretty much just went back to the hotel and hung out for a few and then got into bed. We were pretty exhausted after all the walking around and sightseeing.
Sunday (today!) we slept in a little bit longer, and stayed in the room until our checkout time at 1pm. We ate our leftover Chinese food for lunch and then we stored our baggage with the concierge and then walked to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I didn’t think it would take so long to look at all the exhibits but we spent at least three hours there and we didn’t even cover half of it. We saw some really great Japanese art on display and looked at all the American Art, and then we went through the Modern and Contemporary section, looked at some of the recent European art, and then looked a few extra things. By then, my feet were crying for a break, but we still needed to make the 40 minute walk back to the hotel. So after a few quick pictures, we headed back. It was the first day since we got to Philly that the weather was on the inclement side, so it sprinkled the whole way back. We stopped in again at the Reading Terminal Market for some infamous Philly ice cream, Bassett ice cream. It was actually quite delicious! Then we went back to the hotel. I needed to use the restroom but (aggravatingly) the door only opened when you used a key card and ours were expired. We found out where the nearest Starbucks was and headed out in the sudden downpour. We got pretty wet, but at least Starbucks (in the Marriot Hotel) had warm coffee and accessible restrooms. We stayed there for about an hour, and Mike taught me the math stuff I’m going to need to know for the GRE.
Then it was back into the rain to get to our hotel and grab a taxi. We headed to the airport amid the traffic of a recently finished baseball game. We got there, checked our bag and then proceeded through security. We had at least two hours to kill once we got to our gate, so we found a seat close to the food area and studied some more geometry. After an hour of that, we grabbed a burger to share and ate, then decided to head to our gate. There was a problem with the flight before us leaving our gate, so ours was switched to another gate (right across the hallway). Then more delays which set us about an hour behind schedule. Both of us are exhausted so it’s definitely going to be a long night. Still at least another hour if not two before we land, (What better time to blog about our vacation, huh?) then another hour after that before we get to fall into bed. We have to fight to stay awake right now, but at least Mike doesn’t need to be at work tomorrow and we have the entire day to kickback and relax.
Anyways, our trip was really great and I’m glad we got to see Philly. It was a pretty nifty city and I wouldn’t mind going back, although there are other cities that I would like to see as well. Washington D.C., Boston, Seattle, anywhere in California, and Hawaii… I’ve had now been in two states though, so that’s exciting. Anyways, hope everyone else had a good weekend and hope you enjoy reading about ours, and seeing the pictures!