When I asked Camden about going to run in Philadelphia, he gave a definite YES as he wanted to run the Rocky steps. So we left in the middle of the day on November 21, Thursday, and drove up to Philly. Our hotel was on the middle of downtown and we had to park across the street and wheel our luggage back to the hotel. It was crowded on the streets even on a Thursday night. Our hotel was the Club Quarters near Rittenhouse Square. It was kind of fancy, but old and had very small rooms. Just two twin beds.
The door to the room was down a tiny hallway right beside another room's door.
Friday was our history touring day! But after the Rocky steps. We walked about a mile from our hotel with a quick stop for pastries at Paris Baguette to get to the Philadelphia Museaum of Art.
Not the famous Love sign, but my name comes from Amor
Camden at the top
Camden jumping around like Rocky
Then we started our 3 mile walk to Independence Hall, with lots of sights to see along the way.
A monument to Washington
Rodin's The Thinker
The Free Library of Philadelphia
Rittenhouse Square...lots of birds
Washington Square
We got pizza at Maya's on Jeweler's Row
We had a good time walking through Philly, but did I mention that it was cold and drizzly rain all day!
We finally made it to Independence Hall area. The first thing we did was see the Liberty Bell.
Then we made it to Old City Hall-the first Supreme Court...
the Signer Statue...
Actually, the Quaker House was not open to visitors, but the door was open, and we walked in.
It was raining harder and we were talking to the ranger about what to do while we waited for our time to go on the tour. She told us to tour the first Congress building while waiting for our time. She pointed down to a building. So, we walked toward what we thought was the correct place and went in the building where we saw a group walk in. The ranger there asked us if we had talked to the ranger outside, and we had. So, she let us stay. After we finished the tour, kind of confused that Washington's chair was in the Congress building, we went back and waited outside for our tour of Independence Hall. And we were led right back into the building we had just left! Never toured the Congress, but got to see Independence Hall twice (we didn't stay the second time though)
George Washington sat in this chair!
Almost done with history, we walked past Benjamin Franklin's grave. There is a break in the brick wall surrounding the cemetery and you can see the grave from the sidewalk.
Last thing before heading to bib pickup was touring the National Mint. We saw quarters, nickels and pennies being made. Kind of cool!
We walked through China Town and wished it was time to eat as it smelled really good!
After bib pickup, we went to Reading Market and got our first Philadelphia Philly cheesesteak! We were nervous about getting it with whiz, so we opted for American and Provolone cheese. It was really good!
Nathan's favorite sandwich is a cheesesteak.
Lights and decorations on our walk back to the hotel
We finished our night out by playing putt-putt at Puttshack. It was a cool restaurant with three 9-hole courses that were very different from plain putt-putt. You got points based on where you hit the ball. It was a lot of fun and we played two rounds.
We were back in our room at 8 and had a restful evening of watching Cobra Kai. The next day would come early!
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