Philadelphia-Day 1

In the morning we woke up early and headed off for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was a two hour trip and a nice relaxed morning of travel. When we arrived in Philadelphia(a stop which I recomended) we went into a local indoor market which sold food and produce. We looked for the one of the most famous philly cheesesteak venders in Philly, Carmen's, and after a a few minutes of searching found it. We sat down and had our lunch of philly cheesesteaks and freshly made pretzels and homemade lemonade by some Amish ladies. It was a really nice lunch and refuelled us for more exploring. This is what we saw in the morning.

New Jersey Toll plaza and bridge to Philadelphia.

Philly cheesesteak at Carmens in Philly.

After lunch we went to the Rocky Steps and, after dropping our bags off to the hotel, went to the site of the first president's house. We soon went across to the Philadelphia visitor centre and then over to the Philadelphia Constitutional Museum.  Why is all this here in Philly?  Well, this was where it all happened.  This was the mid-point for the 13 original states who got together and shared their experiences and grievances of being under England's rule.  Eventually they decided that their issues couldn't be resolved so they had to become independent instead.  In Philadelphia, they drew up the Declaration of Independence where they told King George they were leaving his rule.  This all happened right here.  The Museum told the story of how the United States came to be - but outside you could actually walk around and see it.  You'll see what I mean in a minute.  But first, because Philadelphia is hosting the democrtaic convention, it had a number of relevant exhibitions.  The first we went into was the Heading for the White House exhibit.  It was, as well as all the other exhibits revolving around America's history of presidents, very interesting. This is what we saw.

 Rocky steps.

Footprint of the first home built for the President in Philadelphia.

 National Constitution Centre - museum about the declaration of independence and how elections work in the USA.

 

Main hall.

State flags.

The first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.

Advertisement for president. 

Announcing my candidacy for president.

Campaigning.

 

Voting.  In the booth, you actually took a quiz on which policies you preferred in 1962 when JFK was running for president.  I found that I was 70% in favour of JFK's democrat policies.

Back to me running for president - Swearing the oath of office. 

In the oval office.

Model of the Capitol.

 

 Following in President Taft's foosteps, I think I could become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court after the presidency is over.

 Twisiting the law.

 

Examples of campaign paraphenalia.

 Founding fathers' hall.

Founding fathers' hall.

 

George Washington and me with Alexander Hamilton.

After we finished our time in the museum we went back in time by going on a tour of Philadelphia meeting historical figures along the way in the places they used to hang out and eating what they ate.  We met John Dunlap who printed the declaration of independence, Thomas Jefferson who wrote it and John Adams and Benjamin Franklin who were key drivers for independence.  As well as having an old fashioned dinner at the City Tavern (of Beef or Turkey Pot Pie and bread and butter raisin pudding) we got to Independence Hall after hours, after all the tourists (apart from us of course) had gone. After the tour we walked the streets of Philly seeing Benjamin Franklin's grave, the Philadelphia Mint, federal prison and other landmarks. This is what we saw.

 

Streets of Philadelphia. 

Printer of the Constitution John Dunlap's house .

Running into John Dunlap looking for Thomas Jefferson to print the declaration.

  

 City Tavern - where the founding fathers would drink, plot and plan and debate.

 Set dinner table.

An entertaining dinner.

  

Thomas Jefferson with his last draft of the Declaration of Independence.

Independence Hall where the 13 colonies agreed to declare their independence from England. 

 

Closer up to the Independance Hall.

Guard of the Independence Hall.

 

Where the 13 colonies met to work out they wanted to be independent. 

Old Philadelphia court room. 

The room where it happened.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson arguing about the wording of the declaration on the stairs.

Benjamin Franklin with John Adams (2nd president) and Thomas Jefferson (3rd President).

Benjamin Franklin's grave covered in 1cent pieces which have his face on it. 

Betsy Ross House (who sewed the first stars and stripes flag for the new United States). 

Elfreth's Alley, oldest street in the USA. 

Houses on that street.

Thomas Jefferson's house where he drafted the declaration of independence.

We then went home and went to sleep for another day of travelling the next day.

Joseph