Day 4.......our last day. Always the saddest day to me, because you know that tomorrow you will have to leave.
Day 4 began early because we were making the drive to Philadelphia. This city has been on our bucket list for at least 5 years. Paul really likes Benjamin Franklin and where else would you go to see more about him.......Philadelphia!
We started the day out in Maryland, and ended up being in Delaware and Pennsylvania before we were finished. The two hour drive was very beautiful and scenic and we really enjoyed the quiet time traveling in the car.
This was the tunnel underneath Baltimore Harbor
We arrived in Philadelphia and the first destination was to find somewhere to park. Because we only had a few hours to spend here, we decided to take a bus tour so that we could see the entire city first. The bus also allowed you to get off and on as much as you wanted -- so this way if we saw something of interest -- we could hop off.
Our first stop was in an area that we thought we could find an authentic philly cheesesteak. We ended up at a neighborhood pizza place that was small and tiny, but had exactly what we were looking for on the menu.
Now that are bellies were nice and full.....it was time to walk off all that food. We were near the Franklin Institute, so we thought that would be our first stop.
This place ended up being more like a science museum than a place that we were looking for (a museum celebrating Ben Franklin), so we headed back out to the street to catch the bus and continue our tour. We did, however, stop to take a picture in the middle of a busy intersection!
I loved the details on this statue! That is one thing we really noticed about Philadelphia......they had so many sculptures throughout this amazing city.
Here are some of the things we saw on our bus ride. Now, please be aware that it is extremely difficult to get good pictures from the top of a moving bus!
One of the oldest streets in Philadelphia.....love the cobblestone streets!
Independence Hall
Museum of Natural History and the famous steps that Rocky ran up in his first movie
Just some beautiful scenery
Giant clothespin across from City Hall
After our bus tour, we only had a little time left......so we had to hurry and hit some of the spots we wanted to see more up close and personal.
A definite must see for us was where Benjamin Franklin's House stood. We also got to go inside and see a demonstration on one of the old printing presses that he would have used back in his day to print Poor Richard's Almanac.
The next stop was off to Ben Franklin's grave. Not Paul's favorite thing to do, but I LOVE old cemetaries!
Many of the Declaration of Independence signers are buried here.
We found Benjamin Franklin and his wife's graves and learned why people throw pennies on top of them. If you throw a penny on it and it lands "heads up" you will have good luck for a year. If it comes up "tails", it's supposed to be bad luck.
It really is an undescribable feeling standing at the foot of someone who is so important in our country's history. You've read about him all your life in books and here you are......amazing!
Time was running out and we still had our 2 hour drive back to Maryland......so we headed over to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. We weren't allowed into the Hall because they had already given out all the tickets for the day.....so we had to stand on the outside and only imagine what had taken place in that building so many years ago.
The Liberty Bell used to hang in the top steeple, but was moved to it's own building right next door to preserve it. The line to see it up close was probably at least an hour long, and because we were pressed for time.....we elected to get our photos of it from the outside. Not the best shots.....but we do have some!
On our way back to the parking lot, we stopped for our souvenirs. I've heard lots of Ben Frankin sayings......but I've never heard this one before. Of course, I had to buy a pint beer glass with this saying. It was calling my name! Thank you Mr. Franklin.
Our last photo of the day in a city that we will definitely need to come back and visit!
The car ride back to Maryland included a stop at Tiger Direct.com. We've ordered stuff from them online and never realized they had a retail outlet.....so what the heck, we needed to see what they had in their store.
On our way back we also plotted what our evening plans would be. Since we had done music the past 3 nights we decided to play some trivia. So it was off to Annapolis, Maryland and test our brains. We found a place called the Greene Turtle Tavern and our team name was "We're not as dumb as we look". Good thing we didn't know anybody there......because we were pretty dumb that night. We feasted on Jalapeno & Cheese stuffed burger and a Crab Melt sandwich and a couple of cold beers and then it was time to head back to the hotel. Annapolis was about 20 minutes from the hotel, so we had a short drive.
The rest of the evening was spent packing up the suitcases and getting all ready to leave at 5:30 am the next morning to get to the DC airport before the rush hour traffic.
We had a wonderful time and getting away from everything for those four days was exactly what we needed.
Can't wait for the next adventure!
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