We started out with dinner at Bahama Breeze in good old nearby King of Prussia ... because we couldn't leave til rush hour and we certainly didn't want to spend our precious time sitting in traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway. So we ate and talked and enjoyed the time alone!
We stayed right across from Penn's Landing and down a few blocks from "Old City". Penn's Landing is supposedly where William Penn "landed" in Philadelphia. Now it is the home of a seaport museum and a few old WW2 submarines, as well as being the place to go for fireworks on New Years or July 4th. (I will admit that I did not know all this before, despite growing up only about 30 miles away. Actually, much of this trip was an informative history lesson for me!)
View from our hotel window out toward the Delaware River/Penn's Landing
Another view toward Market Street
Bundled up out front of the hotel in boots and down jacket, and ready to hit the sights!
This is what stinks about having a January anniversary ... it is never, I repeat NEVER warm out. Unless you fly off to the Caribbean. Which we will probably never do until the kids graduate from college ...
We started at Christ Church .
We saw (and sat in) the pews belonging to George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Betsy Ross.
We also ran into Audrey's teacher & her mom here, no lie!
What are the chances???
Next we headed to the visitor center and saw a 30 minute movie called Independence - a good intro for the things we would see later on.
Independence Hall, which is currently covered in scaffolding.
But we had a great tour and I actually learned a lot! Probably helps that this time I was actually paying attention and not counting the minutes until the school bus stopped at McDonalds.
I have a totally renewed appreciation for the history surrounding our city.
... since we are the "Keystone State"
This is where it all began ... the decision to separate from England, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the making of the Constitution ...
The tour guide made a point I hadn't really realized before. When our founding fathers signed the D of I, they really thought they were signing their own death sentences. After all - they really did not want to start a war. And if they lost the war (which they realistically thought would probably happen), then they were sure to hang for treason. But they still felt they needed to take a stand for what was right and fair.
Thank God for people of principles. I don't feel there are many left these days.
We headed over to the City Tavern for lunch. This tavern has been around since colonial times.
And the founding fathers came here to debate what to do about England way back when.
But ... for us -there was no debating. Just chatting about our day. And wondering what the kids were up to. (Yes it was nice being away from them - But we still missed them!)
We also took a stroll down Elfreth's Alley, also known as our nation's "oldest residential street".
It is so cute and quaint, and people still live in these houses (and have to deal with tourists like us walking through ...)
What a great day. It is so great to just get to hang out together and have no one asking for snacks and drinks! Here's to many more great years together (and many more fun trips like this)!
1 comment:
Sounds fun, Amy! Very informative. I didn't know that about the signers of the Declaration thinking they would likely die for it. How neat to live near a place that is such an important part of American history!
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