Oh I was so excited for this day! We did a really smart thing and bought a ticket to the HOP ON HOP OFF BUS so we could see all the important things in downtown PHILLY. We started with the LIBERTY BELL, (I couldn't wait to Marco Polo my kiddo's while I was there because Boston was so excited for me to see the Liberty Bell). Then we saw INDEPENDENCE HALL. I cannot believe I actually stood right in the same room as those amazing SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE! Oh, I love HISTORY and this was fascinating to me! Their CITY HALL was amazing. That building was the biggest building at the time and they tried to have it built before the World Fair but it just kept getting bigger and fancier and it wasn't finished for years after that. We saw Ben Franklin's grave and we didn't go in it today but we did the next day and I can't wait to tell you a bit about that in the next post. We saw Betsy Ross's House...funny we didn't go in but we spent money in the gift shop. Mom is kicking herself for talking us out of going in. Ha! Ha! We saw the ROCKY STATUE at the Philadelphia Museum of Art but we couldn't get in because it was under construction. I really wanted to run up those stairs. We saw the famous LOVE sign and I was shocked that they had a TEMPLE in Philly. I did not know that. I was so happy to see that. Also...if you want to know why your Comcast bill is so high it's so they can pay for these 2 skyscrapers. One building looked like a USB and one looked like a FLIP PHONE. Very cool but Wow!
Do you see the USB and the Flip Phone shaped buildings that Comcast owns?
One of the best thing we did this day was READING TERMINAL MARKET. Oh my gosh! So, in my research they said we had to go here for lunch. It's an old railroad terminal and there are over 85 food vendors and that every vendor was out of this world good. We decided to go with Fried Chicken, and Okra and tomatoes. (I love Southern food!) oh my goodness...it was super duper good! Everyone kept making noises with every bite because the chicken was the best we had ever had. It was so tender but the crispy on the outside was divine. It was called Kevin Parker's Soul Food. Ok, now I am saving the best for last...I read up on this and all the reviews said we had to eat a donut from BEILER'S DONUTS. Ok...you think whoopty doo...a donut...oh. my. goodness! I have NEVER had a better donut in my life. I had a salted caramel chocolate cream donut and a peanut butter cream donut. I could die it was so good! Seriously...I am thinking of flying back for an afternoon to buy more and then run up the Rocky steps at the museum. They are that good!! We each had 2 and guess what? We went back for 2 more the next day!! The donut was a more dense donut than we have in Utah with the best cream in the middle. Now I know you're thinking, no wonder Suzanne is so fat, she makes a big deal over her food on vacation but Hey! When you're on vacation that can really add to the experience! I'm just saying that since we have been home we can't stop talking about this place!
Then we went to EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY. WOW! It reminded me a lot of Alcatraz but this prison was the first PRISON opened by Benjamin Franklin and oh my goodness they would put hoods over the heads of the prisoners whenever they were taken out of the cells so they wouldn't know where they were and they would execute prisoners if they spoke to each other so basically everyone was in solitary confinement and they were going crazy so they had to change that over the years but it was cold in there and they had one little stone slit in their ceilings to see the outside. It was totally crazy in there but Al Capone had very nice furniture, an armoire with a radio and it was fancy for that prison, just because he had money. It was a horrible place and what was sad was most of them men in there were not hardened criminals. For example some guys owed debts like $3.50 or one was $7.00 and they were in with murderers. It was an awful, awful place.
We were drenched when we got into our hotel because of the heat and humidity and I took the funniest pic of Joyce ever...I won't post it because I'm nice...but everyone who has seen it will laugh and understand what could have been placed here. I just want to remember it that's why I mention it.
The heat and humidity was so bad that it was breaking a record there and they had the kids only go to school till 11am because it was so awful...of course we are there running around the sites in this weather. We thought it would be cooler in September...not!
I felt bad that Jenny missed the best day of our trip so far but so happy that she could rest and gear up for our Church History Tour coming up.
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