We did a walking tour on our own because we wanted to take as much time as we wanted to see things so ended up in front of the guided tour which was great. Less lines and in a few of the places we were the only ones in the building, besides the park ranger people of course. So, here is the Liberty Bell. Much smaller than we both expected, but since it's an icon of American history, I'm glad I've seen it. I was expecting this huge thing, but it's really only about 3 feet long and probably the same in diameter. A bit of a let down, but cool to see.
This is Carpenter Hall. I love how this photo turned out while looking up the street. The Hall is where the first Continental Congress was held. Inside there is a display showing how the building was built. It was amazing to me to think of all the people that had been in the building over two-hundred years ago. That just blows my mind.
This is Ben Franklin's grave, along with his wife. We learned that the tradition is to throw a penny on his grave for good luck. If you look closey, really closely, you can see either my or Andrew's penny in motion. I'm guessing it was his since I just sort of tossed mine anywhere and tried to take the photo at the same time. In this graveyard there are four other signers of the Declaration burried there.
Here I am posing in the same spot that Abraham Lincoln once stood. Like I said before, that just completely blows me away. Even more so when we were in Washington, DC and we got to see his actual signature and those of many others.
The building off in the distance is Independance Hall. If I'm remembering corrrectly, and the odds there are 50/50, it is where the Declaration was first read to the public and Independance was declared. Again, I could be wrong about that!
This photo was taken inside on the the buildings Ben Franklin built. He was actually the person to come up with fire insurance so the point of the building was to be fire proof. This display showed how the walls were built and towards the bottom you can see some of the bowls and pottery that were found. For being over 200 years old they were in excellent shape.
Also in the same building beside a sort of indent in the building which went underground making an area to store things and make an attempt to keep things cold. There was another one of these further back in the building that had a hole dug into the ground and was used for trash. I wonder what they did when it got full?
Here we are in the same building as pictured above. The thing we were sitting in is a replica of what Ben Franklin used to get around. You may be able to see towards the back of the seat and to the sides the rails that people used to hold it up and carry him wherever he needed to go. It was actually quite roomy!
We were in Philadelphia, had to do it: Philly cheesesteaks! They were really good! And here's Andrew taking a bit out of his and enjoying it!
We saw lots of things here, many more than I have posted photos of. There may be some more to come later on!
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