Welcome to the City of Brotherly Love! Fall certainly reached Philadelphia before it got anywhere near D.C. Philly was windy and crisp, leaves had turned colours and were falling, crunchy underfoot; storybook autumn. D.C., on the other hand, was in the 60s & 70s. No, thanks. It's November.
Anyway, we hopped on a bus and settled it for the three hour tour through Delaware and Maryland. It was still pretty early when we arrived, and couldn't check into our hostel yet, so we headed to the
Eastern State Penitentiary. It had shown up on all the lists of top things to do in Philly but neither I or the other intern I travelled with had looked into it. In summary, however, it's definitely worth a visit.
Built in the 1800s, it looks like a castle on the outside, and because it was still roughly Halloween time, they'd added huge gargoyles to the front of the structure. The walls on the inside, however, are even taller than those on the outside. It was the original penitentiary, constructed to house inmates in solitary the entirety of their stay, each cell with an exercise yard of its own, to promote contemplation and penitence. We picked up the audio guides as well, voiced (most appropriately) by Steve Buscemi. He captures that "abandoned prison" creepiness excellently.
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| A look inside one of the cells. |
It was built in a spoke pattern, so you could stand in the center of the structure and see down every hallway. It was interesting to see the building in a state of disrepair; after it closed in the '70s, it was left empty for a while, a fortress in the center of the city. It's surprising just how run down it looks considering a) when it was abandoned, and b) how long it's still been a tourist attraction. They explain why they haven't refurbished it, which I totally understand, but how does it look so worn out since it was still used in the '60s (a mere 50 years ago) and was only left to its own devices for 10ish years? I
There was so much information in this place, so many places to go (since you can pretty much go everywhere) and we spent a long time listening, looking, climbing inside and underneath cells, etc. It was a pretty epic way to start the day and the trip, especially for something we were both pretty "meh" about to begin with.
Having not eaten all day, only partly by design, we were starving. Luckily, we'd already picked out what we were having for linner/dunch, we just needed to find one. What's a trip to Philadelphia without finding the best Philly cheesesteak around? We ended up at
Geno's. The line stretched around the block, which is both an indicator of its tastiness, and unfortunate if you're hungry. But we waited in anticipation. We'd looked up local custom for ordering cheesesteaks, and my friend executed it flawlessly. Two, whiz, with, please!
And boy, we were not disappointed. Though, we were biased by hunger, since it was now 4pm and we hadn't eaten since dinner the night before. While we were in line, they were refilling the cheese whiz bucket. So much about the process I was sure would make me queazy; cheese should rarely be that consistency. But it was annoyingly delicious. Heads up, the meat and cheese make the already liquid-like cheese melt completely, mix with the onion oil, and pour out everywhere. Cheesesteaks are very messy, but totally worth it. <3 <3 <3
After checking into our hostel, we wandered around the Old City, seein' what we could see. And, naturally, singing the Fresh Prince theme despite being far from West Philly. We tossed a penny at Ben Franklin's grave, per custom. "A penny saved is a penny earned."
Around the corner from BF is the visitor's centre, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell... ya know, the things that call you to Philadelphia to begin with. Clearly where the action is. We found these bits of structure, with tid-bits about Washington's life and the development of the presidency. We couldn't quite figure out what it was supposed to be. Best guess, the site of the first president's house, while Philly served as the capital?
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| Your guess is as good as mine. |
After a quick stroll passed Independence Hall, which we'll hit up tomorrow when it's actually open, we went for drinks and dessert at the City Tavern, where the Continental Congress went to eat, drink, and continue discussions on the state of affairs (and affairs of states). I went for Martha Washington's shrub soda, which was essentially a Shirley Temple, and her creme brulee. They also had a selection of beers made using the same methods the Founding Fathers would have used to brew their own; the Tavern had Hamilton, Jefferson, Washington, and Franklin's recipes.
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Tomb of the Unknown Civil War Soldier
Washington Square |
In a city with as much history as Philadelphia, naturally it has a few ghosts. Interestingly, there really seemed to only be one ghost tour of Philly, but we found it! We ended the night following a man in a cloak with a candle-lit lantern around the dimly-lit town. The City Tavern has ghosts of a bride and her bridesmaids, there's an old woman guarding the dead in Washington Square, Ben Franklin in numerous places around town, someone in Carpenter's Hall, etc. Good time of year for it, and the guide certainly has the voice and demeanor suitable for this line of work; is he creepy because he does this for a living, or does he do this for a living because he's creepy? To be determined.
AND... SCENE!
Day two, the weekend's coming to a close, e'rybody's gotta go to work in the morning, time to get everything done!
First up,
Ben Franklin's Ghost House. BF's grandkids were over paying for the upkeep on his house not long after he died, so it was torn down. Pieces of it were found underneath Philly's modern streets, and a frame was constructed following the dimensions Franklin's house would have actually had (and that sucker was BIG!). There are windows were you can peek under the courtyard and see the outlines of walls, flooring, and even the great man's privy. Because who doesn't want that. It was interesting to see the layout for his house along its several floors, and the courtyard included quotes from letters between BF & his wife during the construction/renovation process.
Next up, Independence Hall! We'll admit, since we give tours, we've gotten much MUCH more critical of tour guides, and our guide here definitely had room for improvement. Anyway, a little piece of my soul belongs to "
1776: The Musical," and if they didn't film inside, they did an awesome job recreating Independence Hall on set. I already knew my way around and resisted the urge to sing.
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| "I'm just a simple cobbler from Connecticut." |
I could answer the trivia questions and see much of the movie played out. And it was awesome. This staircase is the
scene for one of my favourite musical numbers in the movie, and the colour's pretty spot on! The movie enter any of the rooms on the second floor, so those were all new to me. There's an assembly hall, governor's office, and an... armoury? I'm not remembering what the last room was, but it certainly had a variety of weaponry. The building next door has some "original" copies of our founding documents, but most interestingly, I learned the founder's kids still get together once a year, where one of them is selected to knock on the Liberty Bell (gloved).
We moved across the courtyard to the original Congress meeting house, post-Revolution. While D.C. is under construction, we've still got a country to run. The tour starts in the House of Reps chamber. Sure, sure. But upstairs is where the committee rooms are, and where the Senate meets.
Finally, we hit up Betsy Ross' house. While I'm not sure where I stand on the Betsy Ross issue, her home was interesting, particularly in its layout, which I can't tell is a result of the museum needing to direct flow, or if she would have also moved through it in the same way. Her life story was interesting, regardless of whether or not she really sewed our first flag. And they have an actress to play Betsy in the basement, sewing up a storm. Walking through didn't answer my question about the cat fountain outside, however...
We had some time to kill before our bus headed back for home, so we stopped by a bookstore. It was amazing and beautiful. There were books and boxes piled up everywhere. Upstairs was more orderly, but still beautiful. *sigh*
There did happen to be a Veteran's parade happening, and as a result, we passed by a number of floats as we stopped by the market and continued toward the bus station. I even saw some Masons! I took a few photos in front of the
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania building... is it too late to redesign our Temple?
Overall, a really great weekend, and I can check Philly off my bucket list! Soaked up all that history, just so I could return to D.C., where history is made every day (sorry, History Channel, I just need to borrow this phrase for a bit).
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| Checking another Hard Rock Café off my bucket list! |
After that, I was perfectly happy to explore Hogsmeade and Universal Studios sans rides. I watched the Durmstrang boys and Beauxbaton girls perform, as well as the Hogwarts Frog Choir (which made some unique song selections). Got a couple of things at Honeydukes, a bottle of Pumpkin Juice, a Butterbeer (not as good as the one in London, unfortunately), and generally soaked it all in. My friend is most certainly a roller coaster girl, but isn't into Harry Potter, so for a bit we were perfectly happy to hang out separately.
There is so much detail that went into the construction of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Very likely, as much detail went into other portions of the park, but this is the one I know best. From shop and restaurant windows, even those with nothing inside, to the support structure for the Owl Post, thought was put into everything. The wood would probably have been enough, but nope, there are owls that move and make noise in the rafters. 
However, the big draw of Epcot is the national exhibits. *sigh* We haven't been able to travel together much, but we got to share stories about the places we've been and eat our way around the world. We munched our way through the Caribbean (pescado con coco), Greece (Greek Nachos), Patagonia (boniato purée), New Zealand (green-lipped mussels), China (mango green tea, strawberry red bean ice cream), Africa (buttered chicken), Poland (golabki), Italy (cannoli al cioccolato), Morocco (chocolate baklava), and Brazil (pork belly). We took in a show about France, and saw Canada in 360˚ with Martin Short. We wove in and out of buildings reproducing those from across the globe. And it was magical. 
