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Published: August 22nd 2011
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We arrived in Philadelphia yesterday late afternoon and found our way from the station via the subway to the hostel which was in the old quarter of the city. This was the one I was dreading as it was a shared dorm! The actual hostel was in an old building down a back alley but was a really nice and bright inside. They even provided ear plugs free of charge!! The night’s sleep was better than expected, but still awkward and I think Howard has now learnt his lesson and will not make that mistake again!!
The thing that really struck me about Phili was how friendly and helpful everyone was, the guy at the subway gave us a map, told us how to use the system and which train we needed, every time we looked lost or puzzled someone just came over and asked if they could help, it was really incredible.
We decided just to have a bit of a wander and discovered we were really close to The Mint – which was one of the things my Rev. Frederick Walter Wheeler visited, so we had a walk along and took a picture. Phili is full of lots of
lovely little parks which are beautiful little oasis of peace and the locals all seem to go and sit or walk in them in the evenings and watch the world go by. After a meal we went back to the hostel and sat in the lounge and watched the Sherlock Holmes film, trying to put off bed time!! I also did a bit of research about the places and people that the Rev. FWW went to and visited. This meant the next day we had a plan of action and went out and saw those same sights and took pictures, it was quite an amazing feeling to think of him being in the same place only 160 years previously! We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall & Square, all the old original houses, found the first Presbeterian Church and the location of the house (no longer there) of the family he visited and stayed with and lots of other things. I was really impressed with Philadelphia but not so much so with the famous dish – Phillycheesesteak, which was pretty sickly. Oh yes we also had breakfast in a real Happy Days style diner where you sit on the round
stools up at the long counter bars etc – hee hee.
Late that afternoon we made our way back to the station where the mega bus to Baltimore was leaving from, this time it wasn’t our bus that broke down but the one before which meant they had to cram 2 bus loads of people into 1 – but they did it! Once again we had an absolutely horrendous thunder storm with hail stones as big as your fist! Cars were sheltering under bridges, the rain was torrential and the thunder and lightning quite scary. We got drenched running from the bus to the shopping centre but just a few minutes later Stacy pulled up and rescued us! She whisked us off to the Red Lobster and an absolute feast!! We then stopped off for a few supplies and then back to Stacy’s which can only be described as an Aladdin’s Cave!
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