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The founding of America and a day wandering historic Philly

In September I spent a lovely, girly weekend in Philadelphia with Laurel and RA. I’ll get to the lovely time I had with both of them in a post or two, first I want to talk about my visit to historic Philadelphia, the part that feels like you have walked onto the set of National Treasure. You know, without the spontaneous plot to steal the Declaration of Independence or the bad guys trying to kill you.

Independence Hall–the site of the founding of the United States, the signing of the Declaration of Independence and creation of the Constitution–was under a bit of construction, but the inside was still fascinating, even though much smaller than I had anticipated.

There it is, folks, under thick, darkly tinted, bullet proof glass and heavily guarded. I was in Philly the weekend of September 11th, and there was quite a bit of seemingly extra security around Independence Hall, Constitution Hall and the Liberty Bell.

George Washington, in front of Independence Hall.

One of the upper rooms of Independence Hall, I love all the gray-blue trim throughout the whole building.

I don’t know why I love this so much, but the curly-q stair rail was one of my favorite parts of the building.

The Liberty Bell, I’m not sure why I was so excited to see the bell either, but the crack, the history, the nostalgia. Don’t know, but it was cool to stand and people-watch as dozens of tourists filed past the bell and all the surrounding displays.

Ben Franklin’s grave, I found this small cemetery quite by accident and wished I had a penny in my pocket to contribute. As it was, I took pictures of his grave and the really old, slightly creepy cemetery.

Just around the corner was a firehouse with a fantastic sculpture of Ben Franklin himself.

The outside was completely covered in keys. Hello, awesome! After a bit more wandering I stumbled upon Elfreth’s Alley, the longest inhabited street in the United States.

Unfortunately, it was garbage day. It took quite a bit of maneuvering to get a picture that wasn’t littered with boxes and piles and bags of trash and recycling. But, I got to spend a good 30 minutes wandering up and down the street taking pictures of all the doors. I have a thing with doors, apparently.

Yep, again, I loved everything about it.

I think this is one of the first bank buildings, maybe the first? Not sure, but I was totally crushing on the columns, and, as my feet were getting tired and the afternoon was waning and it was time for dinner with Laurel and RA.

I got to spend a day geeking out about history and America and old buildings, and then I got to spend the evening hanging out with two lovely ladies. Quite a fabulous weekend, I’d say! For more photos, check out my Flickr set.

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