Philly, In Pictures

Yesterday was a travel day, from LA to Philadelphia via Virgin America, and since flying for 4+ hours - and sitting in airports for another 2 hours - is exhausting, even when it's first class, we elected to hold off on any sight-seeing until today.

View from our room of the USS New Jersey docked on the Delaware River.

 

First thing this morning, we board a local sight-seeing bus for a tour overview of Philly. 

It was windy and cool on the upper deck, and we had to constantly be on the lookout for low hanging tree branches, electric wires and bridges (no joke - our bus cleared one of the bridges by mere inches; if we'd been sitting up-right, we'd both have massive head(less)aches right now.)

 

Some Philly highlights -

 

Liberty Bell. The line was looooooong to get in the museum, so we just took pix from outside.

Independence Hall.

Chandelier inside Independence Hall; beautiful!

Excavation of President's House, George and Martha Washington's home in Philadelphia. Very interesting - I love archaeological sites.

Bust of Ben Franklin, made from pennies and copper nails. The answer to any historical question in Philly is almost always "Ben Franklin."

Betsy Ross House, my must-see site for the day.

Woven coverlet in Betsy Ross House.

Quilt in Betsy Ross House.

Rodin Museum, hubby's must-see site.

Which one is "The Thinker"?

Elfreth's Alley; teenee narrow homes; taxation was based on street-frontage.

William Penn, atop City Hall. Probably the most impressive American historical figure you've never heard of.

Monument to war veterans . . . 

complete with statue of a type setter, aka the guy who paid for the whole thing.

Eastern State Penitentiary, the site I most wanted to see that we didn't have time for.

The Rocky steps (Philly Art Museum)

Cruiser Olympia, hubby's most want to see but we ran out of time site.

 

Random pretty building. I love the colors.

George Washington memorial, across from Rocky Steps.

Dragon statue, one of three.

Outdoor art installations were everywhere we looked. Some better (dragon) than others (this one.)

Tomorrow we pick up our rental car and head for Valley Forge!

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