For a quick glimpse of Philadelphia, you can sure see a lot...

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I was a bit saddened to have only spent a few short hours in downtown Philadelphia, but last night when we FINALLY got to our hotel in Jersey (suffice it to say we got lost, and between traffic issues around DC and Baltimore, we didn't get to the hotel until late) we were exhausted and made a decision to just spend a half day (today) in Philly.

If we could get there.

Jersey didn't play nice with us. I thought getting lost once would be fine, but apparently the state deemed it necessary for us to lose our way to the train station where we were supposed to hop a train to get to the heart of Philly. The roads around Camden are very confusing, often times cutting around a traffic circle unexpectedly and then changing directions so before you know it, you're on a completely different road. And to make matters worse, it's extremely hard to turn around in this part of Jersey, or at least on Highway 130. Half the time you can't make a left turn so you're stuck pulling into a KMart parking lot and trying to cross traffic to turn around. It wasn't the best way to start off the day.

But once we actually made it to the train station, things started to go a bit smoother. The train service from Jersey to Philadelphia is quite nice; the service runs regularly, all 24 hours in a day, and the ticket system isn't too complicated. And we only had to transfer once to get to Independence Park, our starting point for the day. Philadelphia as you may know, has what they claim to be the most historic square mile in America. And after spending a few hours there, I would have to say I agree. As I say too much, I really wish I had more time in Philadelphia. We didn't really have the time to take a tour of any of the buildings, or go see the Visitor's Center to get a better idea of what we were seeing, so I almost felt a bit lost and overwhelmed with all this history. I had bought a Fodor's guide to Philadelphia, which was quite nice to have to carry around, and did help a bit, but I do feel like we cheapened the value to the historic district by merely looking at the buildings like Independence Hall and Congress Hall from the outside and not exploring their insides. But regardless, I really did enjoy walking around and seeing the Liberty Bell, various Halls, and even the house where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. What I was most impressed by was the quality of these buildings. For being so old, the sites were in great shape and almost looked like they were just replications for tourists'/history's sakes. But no, they're just preserved and maintained very well. So to be able to look up at the house and room where TJ wrote the Declaration was pretty cool, even if we didn't get to go into the building.

What was also very cool, and kind of gave the whole experience a bit more of a historical feel, were the horse drawn carriages lined up on most of the streets, some even with their drivers dressed in proper historical apparel, ready to take passengers away on a tour of Independence Park. There was also a Ben Franklin man dressed up across the street from the Liberty Bell at one point. That was quite humorous.

After our stint in and around the Independence National Historic Park, we decided we were hungry and we'd go to the Reading Terminal Market. Wow. That place is cool. It's basically just a large space dedicated to all these vendors that set up shop and sell everything from fresh produce, to seafood, to ice cream, to flowers. And that's not a complete list. The place is huge, crowded, and hard to maneuver around gracefully... but man, it's fun. And delicious. After a quick run-through, Keith and I decided the only appropriate food choice for lunch was an authentic cheese steak. We made our decision of venue based on the length of lines; we chose the shortest and still ended up waiting about 25 minutes for our cheese steak. But man it was good. I don't think I've ever had one before and I can say that even a picky eater like me enjoyed it. We also made our way around and got some ice cream and fresh Pennsylvania Dutch lemonade. I found the Dutch particularly interesting, as they were dressed like you'd picture old-fashioned Pennsylvania Dutch people. Classic!


We continued our journey through the streets of Philadelphia and ended up going down to LOVE Park via City Hall and a site next to JFK Plaza (LOVE Park) that had all these game pieces like dominos and chess things and the tokens from Monopoly scattered around the terrace, part of a compilation called "Your Move." Those were fun to kind of play on. Apparently skateboarding used to a big thing around the plaza and surrounding area, but since a short while ago it was banned. When we got to the plaza, there were a few skateboarders doing their thing around some domino tiles, but when they saw a security lady making her way at them and yelling, they bolted before being fined $300. Ouch.

There are so many works of art and statues around Philadelphia, some classically executed, others created in a more modern form. Combined you can tell that Philly has a lot of history backing it, but it is definitely a modern city. So there's really a unique dynamic running through the city. I definitely felt that being in LOVE Park, a fairly modern looking park that is really JFK Plaza and named after the LOVE sculpture, with City Hall right next to us, which is probably one of the most impressive City Halls in the world, or at least the United States (I recommend reading up on it, the history behind it is actually quite fascinating). We were planning on spending a fair amount of time in LOVE Park, but it started raining, dampening not only our day but the various wedding ceremonies being preformed at LOVE Park (cliché maybe? I don't know). We looked for some buildings to take shelter in, but as we moved on, the rain let up a bit and we just decided to continue down Ben Franklin Parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

I knew about the Philadelphia Museum of Art, otherwise known as the site of the famous scene from "Rocky" (not that I've seen the movie), but I had no idea that along the Ben Franklin Parkway were various other museums and libraries and such. The Parkway itself was beautiful, decorated with flowers and flags, and led all the way down to the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We unfortunately didn't make it all the way down there though. When the rain started back up, we used that as an excuse to duck into the Free Library for a little bit of rest before deciding to call it a day in Philly and head up to NYC. So we found our way to our subway, got back on it, made our transfer, and traveled the rest of the way up Jersey into the Big Apple. It was a bit depressing we cut our trip so short in Philadelphia... we could have easily spent a few more hours there and we weren't due in NYC until 9PM. But, as I say so often, there's always next time. And perhaps better use of the city transportation system. See you in New York City!

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Photos

Independence Hall
Place where the Declaration, Articles of Confederation, and Constitution were signed.

Congress Hall
Site of Congress from 1790-1800

Graff House
Where Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration.

One side of City Hall
With Mr. William Penn gracing the top.

The fountain at Logan Circle
And impending rain clouds

Interesting statue along Ben Franklin Parkway
And a tad pornographic?