Onto Philly

On Monday, Sept. 30, we left the Doubletree Newark, N.J., hotel for our next destination: Philadelphia. We got there in time for lunch at the Reading Terminal Market. The market is full of food options, but we took advantage of the time to shop ... again. Cindy had to stop by the Hard Rock Cafe to expand her T-shirt and magnet collect and then we found a mall where she was able to buy a Sixers jersey she was looking for. Time was tight so we grabbed lunch in the mall's food court before heading back to meet the group and get back on the bus.

We picked up a tour guide dressed as Betsy Ross (seriously). She kept referring to everything as a "hoot." She was quite a hoot herself. She pointed out the landmarks as we toured the city by bus. We flew by the famous Love sculpture, which was a lot smaller than I expected, so I wasn't able to get a picture. She was pretty excited to take us into the Comcast Center, the headquarters for Comcast, which happens to be my cable company. With my cable bill as high as it is, I feel I own a piece of that. She said business is booming and the company wants to build two or three more buildings of the same size. Wow.

The guide wanted us to see this people mover. It didn't move any people, but it was a pretty neat sculpture in the building's lobby. Behind the main counter was this huge TV screen. When we walked in it appeared as a paneled wall and I couldn't figure out where the TV was. Pretty neat.

One of our stops was the Philadelphia Art Museum. We didn't get to go inside but it's probably most famous for its huge staircase that was in the Rocky movies. Here's Cindy running (?) up the stairs. She didn't make it all the way. But she did do a pretty good pose by the Rocky statue.

Here's our costumed guide taking a group picture.

This is the Philadephia City Hall with a huge statue of William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, at the top. We weren't able to go inside.

Our bus had an interesting time navigating some of the streets in New York and making turns, but the closest one was turning onto a side street in Philly. The guide said city buses make the turn all the time so our driver would have no problem. He came really close to taking the mirror off a construction truck sitting in the street, but we made it through without a scratch. Whew.

And we had to go down that street to see the Magic Gardens, another thing the guide said was a "hoot." It was made out of garbage and it was pretty neat ... not that I'd want it next door to me.

This is the inside of Christ Church, where many of our nation's founders, including Benjamin Franklin, worshipped.

We couldn't leave Philadelphia without seeing the Liberty Bell. I was under the impression the Liberty Bell had a connection to the country's independence, but it's pretty much a bell that was purchased to hang in the state house and cracked. At least we were able to see it the day before the government shut down and closed the park. This picture is funny - it looks like the bell has legs!

And, of course, here's Independence Hall. We didn't go in, just walked by.

I'd love to take the kids to see Philadelphia. It's a pretty neat city with lots to do.