Philadelphia

Philadelphia, PA

Sep 30, 2007

After church services, we stopped at the Friendly's on Centerville Road ((40.0550,-76.3988)). Chris had the Patty Melt Burger, Katherine had the Fish and Chips, Steven had the Grilled Cheese with a Shirley Temple, and Andrew had mozzarella sticks with a Shirley Temple.

Mom and Dad were headed on a bus tour to New York City to see Mary Poppins on Broadway, and we had planned to visit Philadelphia. We stopped to get gas at the Sunoco station ((40.0540,-76.3981)) and headed toward Philadelphia on US-30. At the junction with US-202, we continued eastbound to I-76. We took I-676 into downtown Philadelphia, where we circled Independence Mall and parked in the parking garage beneath it ((39.9519,-75.1498)).

We walked through the Independence Center and Liberty Bell Center ((39.9495,-75.1503)). We took pictures in front of the Liberty Bell and some pictures in front of Independence Hall.

We walked down Chestnut Street to a small bookstore/gift shop near Franklin Court, and then into Franklin Court ((39.9497,-75.1467)) where they have a frame structure simulating the home where Benjamin Franklin used to live. You can gaze down at the foundation and his privy pit. There is also an underground museum under Franklin Court where you can see his armonica, some portraits, his desk and various inventions. There is a large room full of telephones on posts that are in various states of disrepair. There was also a glass-encased model of a bunch of colonial people in a big building that was all dark and difficult to view, with no indication of what the scene represented.

We walked back up Market Street to 5th Street, by the National Museum of American Jewish History, which had just closed, and then past the Christ Church Burial Ground on our way back to the car.

We got onto I-95 to head toward Brookhaven, and the traffic was horrendous. There must have been some kind of football game that had just let out because the traffic was crawling all of the way down past the airport.

We stopped for dinner at Dave & Karen Walton's house in Brookhaven and had a delicious meal and good conversation. The boys had a good time playing with their kids.

To get home, we took Route 352 to Route 3 to US-202 to catch US-30 back to Mountville.