According to Gretchen, the campground was located further from Independence National Historical Park then I calculated, 49 versus 35 miles. Anyway, we headed into Philadelphia in a light rain. We parked at the park visitor center, picked up tickets for Independence Hall, and bought tickets for a bus tour of the town, the hop on - hop off tours. Our tickets were for 1:00 pm and the bus took about 1.5 hours to go around, so we decided to stay on the bus in order to get back in time for the Independence Hall tour (no other buildings require tickets; this does to prevent overcrowding).
We got on the double decker bus, hoping the rain would not start again. We barely got underway before it started raining lightly. Not long later, it was raining hard enough that we sought refuge below. Our views were severely limited, so we did not get many good photos.
We got back to the visitor center about 12:15, so a quick lunch was in order. We picked a street vendor selling the famous Philly Cheese-steak sandwiches and found a sheltered area to enjoy our lunch.
The Hall tour was guided. Our ranger guide did an excellent job giving us the history of the place and how our country was formed. The building is perfectly restored with authentic period furniture.
After the hall, we went through several other buildings including the one housing the Liberty Bell. The mint was closed, a disappointment.
The weather improved, so we decided to take another bus tour. We were able to stay on top all the way around, and got some good photos. We had a different tour guide who gave us some different information, but nothing that contradicted the first guide.
We went looking for a Mexican restaurant following Gretchen's directions. We would up going through some "rough" areas of town. We decided to head toward camp and stop in one of the little towns to eat. We wound up eating in a pub near a college. Food was OK, but nothing special.
Philadelphia is a beautiful city with lots of things to see and do. There are lots of statues around the city. Most are of historic figures and some of mystical characters. At the foot of the Art Museums steps is one of Rocky Balboa, the fictional boxer, who trained by running up and down those steps. Laurel wants to come back for a week's visit, so we will try to do that in the next year or two.
With tomorrow scheduled to be a long drive day, we turned in early.
Phillie is a place I also want to explore. I plan on spending the weekend there the next time I go to the National Fire Academy for a class if I don't get there before.
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