Final Day in Philadelphia

I loved our last day in Philadelphia! Tabbi and I walked all over the city and found so many new hidden treasures!



The first place we visited isn't really a hidden treasure. I'm sure lots of people know about it - "Your Move" park. It's a park - across the street from City Hall. "Your Move" is comprised of oversized game pieces including dominoes, Monopoly, Parcheesi, checkers, chessman and bingo chips. Scattered around the plaza the whimsical artwork installation is intended to function as a catalyst for memory between childhood memory and adult responsibility. We spent a good chunk of time here playing around and having fun! Definitely one of the highlights of the trip!


Some nice old lady on her lunch break passed us and offered to take a couple pictures. Tabbi is known by all of our friends for being completely crazy! However, after taking a couple pictures the lady says nodding her head towards me, "Oh she's the crazy one isn't she?" LoL. Tabbi and I both laughed, but I took it as a compliment. :0)






We had heard so much about the famous Philly Cheese steak sandwiches namely from Pat's and from Geno's. They are right across the street from each other so we figured that the best thing to do is get one sandwich from each shop. Probably the best thing to do if you really want to compare is to get the exact same sandwich from each place. Our orders were a little different, but eh, I think we got the jist.





I really liked my sandwich from Geno's.

Tabbi really liked her sandwich from Pat's.

So I think it's a draw. I think that either way you go, you will be happy.
(On a side note, I actually got a Cheese Steak Sandwich our first day in Old Town Philadelphia. I think it was better than both of them (cheaper too) - but hey - it's about visiting the famous spots sometimes right!?)

Tabbi and I discovered something in Philadelphia called the Mural Mile. There are 17 murals painted on buildings throughout the city. You can walk from mural to mural and see artwork as well as different areas of the city. With our cell phones we were able to listen to the artists talk about the inspiration of their murals. Many times, the history of the neighborhood that we were in influenced what the painting was about. I really loved that aspect of it. History is so fun when you get to see the place that you are learning about instead of just reading about it from a book. I did take pictures of all the murals, but here are just a few ;0)
Autumn

Crystal Snowscape

The Theatre of Life

I really wish that the pictures could be larger. There is so much detail on the murals that is lost in the image and I wish I could point out all my favorite parts of each!
Taste of Summer

Building the City

Finding Home

One of the hidden treasures that we found is Philadelphia's Magic Gardens.

I pulled this little bit of information from their website:
Philadelphia's Magic Gardens is a folk art environment, gallery space, and nonprofit organization that showcases the work of mosaicist Isaiah Zagar. Located at the site of Zagar's largest public mosaic installation, the Magic Gardens includes a fully mosaiced indoor gallery and a massive outdoor labyrinthine mosaic sculpture. The installation, primarily consisting of found objects and contributions from the community, covers half a city block with myriads of tile, texture, and color. A walk through the labyrinth will reveal sculptures from Latin America and Asia, bicycle wheels from local South Street shop Via Bicycles, Zagar's hand-made tiles, and mirrors of every shape and size.
You should really check out their site because it has an awesome aerial view of the place. Tabbi and I sure enjoyed it though!




We ended our tour in the city back where we started - City Hall.







What's a protest without a little street music?


A popular east coast city activity in the fall is to leave the city, find an orchard and go fruit picking! We decided to go to Boyertown and visit Frecon Orchards to do some apple picking of our own. We didn't actually get to pick apples because it was a holiday and they closed early :0/ but we played around in the orchard and then went to their fruit stand and bought some apples to eat. I can't believe how many kinds they had! I loved it! It was a fun evening and I enjoyed being out in the country. Great ending to the trip!







We flew home the next morning,


it's always so nice to begin the descent and see Utah mountains!

Philadelphia or Philly

Turns out some people get confused when I say, "I went to Philly." They don't get that I am talking about Philadelphia so maybe I am crazy, maybe Philadelphia is never called Philly.

Friday morning (10.7) Tabbi and I slept in. Then we got up and explored the city. First things first, we took the bus to the Philadelphia City Hall.

There were lots of Wall Street protesters. I like protesters. Sometimes they make very good points. People don't listen to them a lot, but when they do is when we have revolutions :0)





I loved this next picture. The protesters were at City Hall and behind them, on the steps of City Hall, among all their information was this picture of City Hall. It's a beautiful building and I loved how the picture stood out among all their information.


We walked around the city and passed the Reading Terminal Headhouse & Train Shed


The Reading Railroad Terminal complex was built in the 1890's and had a thirteen-track train shed and a farmer's market. The trains don't come in there today - but they still have the farmer's market.

So these photos are of the train shed. It was renovated in March 1994 to become the Pennsylvania Convention Center's Grand Hall. The thirteen original tracks of the train shed are represented by parallel steel lines embedded in the floor. I think that it is a beautiful room and such a fun history!

I finally got to see the Liberty Bell. Who knows how long I have waited for that!?

The Liberty Bell is a symbol of the American Revolution. It is a symbol of the liberties gained and a reminder of the liberties denied.


"The Liberty Bell is 'a very significant symbol for the entire democratic world.'"
-Nelson Mandela

The Liberty Bell's famous gap - often called a 'crack' and running from tip towards crown - makes it instantly recognizable.
That gap is really the result of an attempt to fix a thin crack that destroyed the Bell's tone at some moment after the American Revolution.
Exactly when that crack developed is lost in history. The repair work dates to 1846. It failed when, as the Bell rand for George Washington's birthday anniversary. The original crack reappeared and lengthened. It zig-zagged up towards the top of the bell. Silencing it - at least physically - forever.

"Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."
Leviticus 25:10


We took a walk around the rest of the Old City District. We saw Elfreth's Alley. The oldest inhabited street in the U.S. It currently still houses people. I think the houses look very well kept-up and nice. It's a really quaint street.

The tour guide said that the way that they used to tax back in the day was by the width of your house. This house is only 9.5 feet wide, but as you can see, very tall. It's known as the "halfway house."




I love this website of Elfreth's Alley. It gives all the history of the street as well as the history of each individual house - how awesome is that?!
Afterwards we saw the Betsy Ross House

Betsy Ross (1752-1836) lived and worked in this house on Arch Street during the American Revolution. In 1776, Betsy Ross lost her husband John. The young widow worked as an upholsterer, but when war came, she turned to making naval colors. In early 1777 she sewed the first Stars and Stripes for the naval vessels defending Philadelphia.

I found Betsy's history interesting - she outlived three husbands! So here is a snippet of her life story: Born January 1, 1752
Married John Ross on November 4,1773
He was in the militia and died January 1776.
She sewed the first American Flag in late May/early June that same year.
Married again, Joseph Ashburn, June 15, 1777.
He was captured by the British, imprisoned in England and died March 3, 1782.
She married again on May 8, 1783 to John Claypoole, a fellow prisoner of Joseph Ashburn's. They lived in this house until he died August 3, 1817.
She didn't marry again and died nearly 20 years later in 1836.
Can you imagine how hard that would be? To bury three husbands? My heart aches for her. Her and her final husband are buried outside of their home in Philadelphia.



The last thing we visited in the city was the Rocky Steps. I haven't ever seen any of the Rocky movies but I heard they were a place to visit - so we did. :0)


The 72 stone steps before the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania have become known as the "Rocky Steps" as a result of their appearance in the triple-Oscar-winning film Rocky and four of its sequels, Rocky II, III, V and Rocky Balboa, in which the eponymous character runs up the steps to the song "Gonna Fly Now". Tourists often mimic Rocky's famous climb, a metaphor for an underdog or an everyman rising to a challenge.[1] A bronze statue of Rocky was briefly situated at the top of the steps for the filming of Rocky III. (Wikipedia)




I think that's a ton of events and pictures for now. I will post more later. (And you don't have to read it because I know it gets boring.)