Some of the sights we visited today I had seen previously -- on the one day of sightseeing I did here at the conclusion of a HUD training course 13 or 14 years ago. But they were worth seeing again, and there were brand new places as well. Started at the Liberty Bell which is situated in a building which tells the story of the significance of the Liberty Bell to U.S. history and mythology and then locates the Liberty Bell so that Independence Hall is its background.
Because Minnesota has had such a long winter, the gardens outside the building were almost as exciting for me as the patriotic symbol. Lovely and colorful!
Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed, now has more security, and reservations are required. In the same secure area is Congress Hall where the U.S. Congress met for 10 significant years when the capitol was in Philadelphia (between the times when New York and Washington, D.C. were the U.S. capital city). The two Park Service rangers who did the tours were quite good, managing to make the history quite interesting.
The only original furniture in the room is the chair on the dais in which the person presiding sat. This chair has a sun carved onto its top, a sun which Benjamin Franklin, perhaps apocryphally, said he was sure was rising rather than setting.
The House Chambers
The Senate Chambers (on the 2nd floor)
From here we walked two blocks to the Bourse Building which remains an office building on upper floors but is a tourist area food court on the ground floor. Had a Philadelphia Cheese Steak sandwich; it was okay but not great. May have to eat several more to test them out!
Then continued walking in the historic area stopping at Carpenters Hall, where the Continental Congress met. Unfortunately, it was closed on Mondays, but I suspect there wasn't a lot to see inside anyway. Then went to Benjamin Franklin's print shop. It wasn't the actual location of the print shop but was in buildings owned by Franklin near where his home, now demolished, was located.
Public transport back to the hotel for a couple hours rest (and working on this) before dinner. We had a small private bus which took us to Joy Tsin Lau, a restaurant in Chinatown for an okay, if not spectacular, Chinese meal. Unfortunately, for me, several of the dishes featured shrimp.
We then did a brief bus tour of some neighborhoods in the city, especially Society Hill, a residential area just south of the Old City full of lovely 18th and 19th century townhouses and a number of historic houses of worship. A brief detour into South Philly was made so we could see the Magic Gardens artwork of Isaiah Zagar. He created mosaics on many buildings on and near the South Street area. The largest piece of art he did was the two lots which are now the Magic Gardens. Here are a few pictures; a youtube video can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEpXlmdyJ4A
We concluded the bus tour by viewing one of the approximately 3,000 public murals scattered throughout the city. This is one of the largest and most elaborate. Originally begun as an anti-graffiti technique utilizing tagging artists, the murals are now done mostly by professional artists.
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