Beddy Blog: Philadelphia

After dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we took the staff over to Reading Terminal Market for lunch. It was filled with food vendors, produce stands, butchers, florists and vendors selling locally made items like soaps, jams, crafts, etc. We took the advice of our concierge and ate cheese steaks at Carmen's.

We sat right at the counter to eat our cheese steaks. At Carmen's, they use melted cheese sauce instead of provolone and you can pick sweet or spicy peppers.

Next on the agenda was a double decker bus tour to see all the sights. The guide was great and told us several bits of trivia and history that we didn't know.

City Hall, which was the first stop on the bus tour. It was just down the street from our hotel.

At the end of September, Scott and I and his entire staff went to the AAP meeting in Philadelphia over a long weekend. We left early on Friday morning and returned late Tuesday morning. We did a lot of sightseeing and got to spend lots of time with our friends Jacob and Kelly from dental school and perio residency. It worked out perfectly for Kelly and I because we got to shop and have lunch and do a little extra sightseeing while the guys were at their classes. Scott and I really enjoyed getting to spend some quality time together and with friends, and seeing all the historical sights and beautiful parks and museums in the City of Brotherly Love (or Brotherly Shove as Scott calls it). It was a great trip!

"The Thinker". Unfortunately I can't remember which museum this was in front of. I didn't realize until we took this tour that Philadelphia had so many!

View of downtown as we crossed the Schuylkill River.

the Modern Museum of Art

Scott with the "Rocky" statue on the backside of the Modern Museum of Art.

the famous "Rocky" steps at the Modern

I was surprised to learn that Philadelphia was ranked the second most Parisian city in America behind New Orleans because of all its beautiful museums, parks, and fountains.

St. Peter's Basilica

For many, many years this statue of William Penn on top of City Hall was the tallest thing in Philadelphia. When they finally built a skyscraper that was taller, it was rather scandalous and there were all sorts of legends about William Penn being angry and cursing the city's sports teams.

Penn's landing. This was one area that I wanted to check out up closer, but we never did find the time. There were several old ships that were so pretty.

Betsy Ross's house. We weren't allowed to stand up on the bus, so I couldn't really get a picture of the whole thing.

The Liberty Bell

We went out to dinner with Jacob and Kelly just about every night we were there. The first night we went to a really good steakhouse right across from City Hall and the Ritz Carlton. The lighting didn't make for a very good picture though and I had demon eyes in every shot that Jacob took!

On Saturday we toured the Eastern State Penitentiary, which was the first of its kind when it was built. It was designed by the Quakers and was the first to have individual cells for the prisoners. The early prisoners were in solitary confinement 23 hours a day and were allowed 2 thirty minute breaks in their own personal exercise yard, which was just a little bigger than the cell. They worked at a trade inside their cell and were expected to be silent so as to encourage true penitence for their crimes.

Eastern State Penitentiary was a working prison up until the 1970's. It housed some famous prisoners over the years including Al Capone. It was beautiful, but at the same time, kind of creepy.

There was one area where you could stand in the middle of the room and see down each of the cell blocks since it was designed like a wagon wheel.

While the guys were in class on Sunday, Kelly and I toured Independence Hall. It was very pretty and very educational.

The court room inside Independence Hall where people would literally "stand trial" behind the gate at the far right.

The Declaration of Independence was written and signed in this room. The chair at the very back of the photo (between the fireplaces) was an original and was called the rising sun chair because it had a sun on it. Because he was so old, Ben Franklin had to be carried in every day to work on the Declaration. It was said that he had tears rolling down his face when they finally signed it.

Beautiful area between the courtroom and the room where the Declaration was signed.

Pretty clocks from the back of Independence Hall

This was where Congress met when Philadelphia was the capital.

One of the committee rooms upstairs

Our last night in Philadelphia we took the staff out to an Italian Supper Club where all the waiters and waitresses took turns singing. The food was great and the songs were a lot of fun. We had one of the office girls take our picture in the hotel lobby when we got back from dinner.