Philadelphia

The bus ride itself was uneventful, the boarding of the bus was not. Firstly the "bus station" was a tiny little office in Chinatown with space for about ten people. Everyone just congregated outside, blocking the pavement. Luckily it was a sunny morning, with no wind. Secondly the bus was late. Thirdly the little Chinese lady in charge of getting people onto the bus was so far from the stereotype of a submissive Asian female, she scared me. One guy who was waiting decided that he would swear at her, I guess for the delay,anyway she made him wait for the next bus. Then when the bus did finally arrive we had to climb over a snow bank and load our own luggage. This wasn't too bad, just a little difficult due to lack of manoeuvring space. Of course because I wear my bag it was easier for me to get to the luggage compartment and I loaded mine and a few other peoples luggage. I was glad to get on the bus and have a seat. One guy had to get off as he had boarded before his wife and there wasn't space for her. I settled in and dozed off. The bus dropped us off in Chinatown in Philadelphia a little over two hours later.

The visitor centre was on my way to my hostel and I dropped in for the usual, local map and a restaurant recommendation for the local specialty, Philly cheese steak sandwiches. While I was there I bought a ticket for the Princess Diana exhibition that was taking place at the city convention centre.The hostel is down a small lane, which when you look down it, does not look promising. I was glad that I had arrived during the day and not at night. I probably would never have made it to the front door otherwise. I got checked in and was relieved when I was able to check in for the Sunday and Monday night. I wouldn't have to stay in an over priced hotel and blow my monthly budget. I dropped the bag and went to satisfy my next need, money. I had to get to an ATM. The hostel is situated in the historic district of Philadelphia and a few things are within an easy,flat walk in total contrast to Pittsburgh. Although both cities are bounded by two rivers they couldn't be more different. In Philadelphia's case one river is tiny,the Schuylkill river (pronounced Shoekill), so doesn't present much of a barrier to city life. And the area between the rivers in Philadelphia is much larger than in Pittsburgh and flat. I think it makes for a much more livable city.

I went to the Betsy Ross house, she made the first American flag. The house itself wasn't incredible interesting but the story behind the making of the flag was. Also Betsy was a busy lady she was married three times. Then it was up to Elfreths Alley, it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited streets in the U.S.. It's a small cobbled alley and looks really quaint, I took a few pictures, walked up and down and headed out. There are a few houses for sale there but I don't think that they come with parking which is always a problem in the city. I went to Christ Church, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin worshipped here. The church is very simply decorated and so beautiful. There is no stained glass but it is a stunning building and still in use today. At the moment you can see the font that William Penn was baptised in, it's on loan from the church in the U.K. where he was actually baptised. The docent said that they use it as a reminder that the church at that time was Anglican, now it's Episcopalian. I ran to see the Liberty Bell, I am not sure what I was expecting but I was disappointed. The bell looks exactly like it does in all of the photos I have seen, so that wasn't the problem. I am not sure what was, I guess it's just that there is so much history behind this item that seeing it in the flesh so to speak is a bit of an anti climax. However saying that I can't imagine visiting Philadelphia and not seeing it. It's one of those things that you have to do, you have no choice. It would be like going to D.C. and going nowhere near the Mall. How would you explain that? The bell marked the end of my sightseeing for the day. I walked back down Market St and got myself my first Philly cheese steak sandwich. It was good, especially as I followed it up with a beer at a local micro brewery. There was more beer at the hostel and a movie to watch. It had been a busy first day in Philadelphia. I was doing well.
Monday December 28th and I got up early. I know I have talked about this before, but if I am on holiday, even more than that I am unemployed. What am I doing getting up early? I have no answers except to say that I think have set my alarm way too many times for this trip to be considered a real holiday! I was at the Independence Hall ticket desk a little after 08.30 and there was no queue. I picked up my ticket and went straight across to the hall. Independence Hall is where the Declaration of Independence was debated and adopted. It was in front of this building that the declaration was first read on 8th July 1776. The docent did a good job of setting the scene for what went on during the debate and added to the interest of the place. And of course there was an original imprint of the declaration on show. Apparently it was first read in a printed form before being written out by hand for the actual signing. Who knew? After the tour I went to the convention centre to get my timed ticket to see the "Diana" exhibition. There was no queue but despite that I couldn't go into the exhibition until 2pm. I walked downtown and went to JFK Plaza, the site of the "Love" sculpture. The plaza isn't much to look at, probably because of the time of year. I can imagine that in the summer it's a nice place to sit and hang out. The sculpture is cool and I have the obligatory photo. I am aware that so much of what I am doing is just tourist stuff but there is a reason why a lot of people do the same stuff when they visit a city. It's because it's interesting,cool or just plain amazing. I need to keep thinking about this, sometimes I find myself rushing through stuff in order to mark it off the list. If that is how I feel I shouldn't bother, I should just stop and relax and enjoy where I am. I complain about having to sit down,plan and book stuff but it's good in that it makes me stop and relax.
My timed exhibition ticket was for 2.30pm but the queue was huge, at least it was warm in the hall. In the queue I got talking to a couple(forget the guys name, the woman was Ashley!), they live in Philadelphia but hadn't visited any of the sights. They had taken some time off and Ashley had wanted to see the exhibition, so here they were. The exhibition was excellent and for me worth every penny. I got to see Diana's wedding dress and some of her clothes that she wore at various public events. The exhibit on her death made me cry, Elton Johns "Candle in the Wind" was playing in this part of the exhibition and it did bring a tear to my eye. It's hard to believe that she has been dead for over ten years now, it seems like yesterday. I guess Diana is my generations "JFK", people can tell you where they were when they heard that she had died. I know I can.
When I finally got out of the convention hall I was hungry and headed to a restaurant that Ashley had recommended, Jim's. It was a bit of a walk, but well worth it. When I arrive just after 5pm the queue was already out the door. "Great!" I thought, that's all I need, another queue. The sandwich was good and I think I prefer it to the one I had had the previous night. After dinner it was back to the hostel for a couple of beers and another movie.