Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell may be Philadelphia's most recognizable icon. I enjoyed seeing it in person, as well as learning more about it from exhibits in The Liberty Bell Center where it is located.
By the way, the National Liberty Museum (a totally separate facility) honors heroes of liberty from around the world, and includes details about the impressive deeds of some of them. It includes a replica of the Liberty Bell that is supposedly the same size, made of the same material by the same company that manufactured the Liberty Bell, and set to ring in the same key/tone as the Liberty Bell. I got to actually touch this replica, and the receptionist actually rang it for me. A person can't do this with the original. I practically got chills imagining the Liberty Bell ringing, as this replica rang.
Independence Hall
Originally built to be the Pennsylvania State House, it at one time housed all branches of Pennsylvania's state government (executive, legislative, and judicial). It was the largest building in the colonies, according to my knowledgeable tour guide, who conveyed a lot of information and patiently answered several questions, including some from me, then stayed for a few minutes after the tour to answer additional questions from others and me.
The Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) tower bell later became better known as (you may have guessed) the Liberty Bell. The bell is now housed in a separate building, as I noted earlier. Below is a picture of Independence Hall.
Philadelphia is known as the City of Brotherly Love and was founded by William Penn and Quakers.
Another of the city's many icons is its LOVE statue. This statue normally sits in John F. Kennedy Plaza (better known as LOVE Park), but is currently in Dilworth Park while LOVE Park gets renovated.
I took the picture below as I happened to walk past it on my way to another location. On another day, as I walked through the park, I took time to briefly watch many children enjoying playing in the fountain, a lot of folks that seemed to be enjoying an outdoor cafe, and some persons enjoying listening to some group playing music. In general, lots of folks seemed to be enjoying various facets of the park.
Some Philadelphia Facts
Philadelphia was the U.S. capital 1790-1800 while Washington, D.C. was being built.
Also, the Philadelphia metropolitan area was the largest city in the country in 1790 (though by the 1790 census the city of Philadelphia itself was second in population to New York City); at that time, Philadelphia was also relatively centrally located in the country.
Philadelphia was also the country's financial center for many years until New York City took over that role. Philadelphia has enjoyed a very diverse economy, at one time having over 15,000 factories according to a marker in Philadelphia's Dilworth Park.
Even today the city is one of the ten most populous in the U.S., both in terms of the city and in terms of the metropolitan area.
In 2015 Philadelphia became "the first and only World Heritage City in the United States," according to WorldHeritagephl.org and other sources.
As a huge city, the Philadelphia metropolitan area offers many of the same things other large cities in the U.S. have:
- professional sports teams
- theatres
- festivals
- concerts
- a zoo,
- an aquarium (in a New Jersey suburb),
- universities,
- quality medical facilities, etc.
Philadelphia may be best known for its history, much of which is featured in Independence National Historical Park, which I devoted most of my time to.
Independence National Historical Park
A person who enjoys history (such as me) could easily devote a few days to seeing the sights here. I devoted several hours over two days and only saw part of it. I already mentioned The Liberty Bell Center and Independence Hall. Among the other places in this national park that I toured were:
- Carpenters' Hall (the Carpenters' Company trade guild group of skilled workers that owns this is not a union and not affiliated with Freemasonry according to information in this building located within Independence National Historical Park),
- Christ Church (founded in the 1600s and where many of the Founding Fathers attended, still an operating church meeting in a building that I think dates to the 1700s),
- Christ Church Cemetery (where Benjamin Franklin is buried, as well as some other prominent Founding Fathers),
- Congress Hall, where the U.S. Congress met (I enjoyed a nice guided tour conducted by a knowledgeable guide who told those of us on the tour much about it; he also answered many questions, including some from me, and stayed for a few minutes after the tour to answer additional questions from others and me.),
- Franklin Court where Benjamin Franklin's house was located; I walked through the same original passageway he had walked through to it; though the house isn't there, markers on the ground indicate the location of various parts of his house and describe it,
- the Benjamin Franklin Museum,
- the Benjamin Franklin Post Office, which is still a Post Office and still has the same wooden counter Franklin used. The dark spot on the right side in the picture below of the Post Office is part of the original passageway which led to Benjamin Franklin's house.
The passageway below is the original passage leading to Benjamin Franklin's house, which was located in the courtyard at the end of the tunnel. The house is no longer there, but markers on the ground describe the parts of the house and where they were located. On the left of the near end of the tunnel is the Post Office pictured above.
Another Bit of History
The Walnut Street Theatre, one of Philadelphia's theatres, is apparently the oldest continuously operating theatre in the United States. Philadelphia is home to a lot of "firsts" and "oldest continuously operating" things in the U.S. I did not attend a play; but, at the time I was in Philadelphia, the theatre was featuring "Sister Act."
Among the other things I did, I:
- saw the Rocky statue and climbed the "Rocky steps" at the art museum (not really my cup of tea, and I'm not even a boxing fan, but worth a few minutes) and maybe someday I'll tour the museum itself though I'm not a huge art aficionado,
Below is a photo of the Rocky statue in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
- walked Elfreth's Alley which is reported to be the oldest continuously occupied street in the United States and was surprised at how well maintained these homes seemed to be from the outside. The street contains a museum, but it was closed at the time I visited. Most of the buildings on the street are privately owned.
This historical marker is on Second Street.
This is a look at Elfreth's Alley looking in from Second Street.
Food
Citing the Center City District annual report for its data, an April 22, 2015 Philly.com article states that "a-7.7-square-mile section of central Philadelphia . . . ranks second only to Midtown Manhattan" in terms of "people living in the heart of a city." And within a fifteen minute walk of my hotel in center city, I am confident that there were hundreds of restaurants, in addition to a huge variety of shops. My guess is that I could eat three meals a day, seven days a week for a year, and never eat at the same place twice, within that walking distance.
But, as one who is seeking to progress toward a vegan diet (and on a somewhat tight budget), I didn't eat at many of them.
However, one of the first things I did after arriving in Philadelpia was enjoy a vegan Philly cheesesteak and slices of two types of vegan pizza (haymaker and popeye) from the Blackbird Pizzeria, a small restaurant reported by at least one source to have two of the best vegan pizzas in the U.S. and the best vegan Philly cheesesteak in Philadelphia.
I confess that although Philly cheesesteak may be Philadephia's signature food, I prefer a good Subway veggie sandwich without cheese and with extra veggies. Philly cheesesteak seems to typically come with steak and cheese and maybe onions, but not tomato, lettuce and other veggies. My cheesesteak sandwich was tasty, though.
I was impressed with the quantity of spinach on the popeye pizza, and all three items were reasonably tasty. Prices were reasonable for vegan entrees. I would have liked a wider selection of soft drinks though, such as orange juice or lemonade, which weren't available. (Yes, I enjoy orange juice even at lunch sometimes.)
Soft pretzels are another food Philadelphia is apparently noted for. I ordered pretzels from the Philly Pretzel Factory on Sansom Street that were reasonably tasty to me, though I am not a big pretzel lover.
For one of my meals, I enjoyed delicious vegan peach cobbler French toast that included three thick slices of French toast with vegan whipped cream and lots of peaches along with maybe a bit of maple? syrup, as well as a vegan smoothie that blended four fruits. This breakfast at a Green Eggs Cafe location contained huge portions (though at a price much higher than I like to pay). I think that the smoothie was probably at least pint size, and the French toast serving was perhaps enough to fill two average people. Allowing for the facts that they were vegan and such huge portions, the prices were probably reasonable.
As far as I know, the Green Eggs Cafe restaurant does not serve green eggs, but the name is cute. And though when I think of a "cafe," I think of a small mom and pop restaurant, this place probably seats a couple hundred folks and seemed well staffed with several people. At about its opening time of 8 a.m. when I visited, I got seated quickly and my food was prepared reasonably quickly, but comments on tripadvisor.com indicate wait times can be lengthy at certain times.
To save money, I only ate a few restaurant meals; I took a lot of snacks with me. Also, my hotel offered a free continental breakfast daily.
I enjoyed visiting the huge Reading Terminal Market, which features dozens of restaurants of various cultures, as well as a few farmers' booths offering fresh produce, all in one gigantic room under one roof.
This historical marker is located near the market.
I would have loved to have tried out some of the food at one of the Mennonite (or were they Amish?) booths, but decided to resist the temptation due to my tight budget. The market has a huge variety of foods representing a variety of nationalities/ethnic groups that can appeal to persons with various tastes.
Transportation
I rode a Greyhound bus from Lexington, Kentucky to and from Philadelphia, which was much cheaper than flying from Lexington, and much cheaper than taking a Greyhound to Cincinnati and taking trains from there.
I could have taken a Greyhound bus to Cincinnati and then flown on Frontier airlines to Philadelphia for a comparable price to my Greyhound ticket. But the Frontier flights seemed to offer limited days and times that didn't fit well with my schedule. And after allowing for the plan to sleep nine hours on the Greyhound bus, the flight would have only saved about four hours travel time. Furthermore, by taking the Greyhound I got to meet more interesting people and to stop briefly in cities like Columbus, Ohio and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
I left Lexington about 4 p.m. on June 15 and arrived in Philadelphia about 2 p.m. on June 16 (about 1:10 late probably primarily due to heavy traffic that was moving slowly on the highway from Valley Forge into Philadelphia). I slept a significant amount on the bus, though not as much as I wanted.
I took a lot of snacks with me in my carry-on bag, but I enjoyed a delicious stack of three pancakes and syrup at the Pittsburgh Greyhound station restaurant for only $3.19 + tax. On my return trip from Philadelphia to Lexington I enjoyed a tasty veggie burger with lettuce and tomato for I think $4.49 + tax from the Pittsburgh Greyhound station restaurant. The same friendly, efficient, hard-working lady took both orders and prepared both meals during the overnight hours at that restaurant. I thanked her (Dornata is her name.) personally and also sent a complimentary message to Greyhound about her after my trip. I hope Greyhound appreciates her and treats her well.
Philadelphia offers lots of city buses, a subway system, and various tour buses. Philadelphia also has some special buses (called "Philly PHLASH") that at the time I was there for a $5 all day pass supposedly gave unlimited rides between most of the main tourist attractions during much of the day. However, I walked everywhere within the city. I enjoy walking, and all the things I visited were within walking distance of my hotel, at least for someone like me who enjoys walking. In addition, there is lots to see walking along between big name attractions in center city Philadelphia.
If you plan to visit Philadelphia, I recommend taking a bus, train, or plane instead of driving a car. Traffic in Philadelphia is heavy, parking is limited and expensive, and the center city is very pedestrian friendly which makes it nice to walk places.
Most of the historic tourist attractions are concentrated in the center city area of Philadelphia, along with numerous restaurants and hotels.
Libraries and Bookstores
Typical visitors might pass up libraries and bookstores. Not me. As a book lover and author, I enjoyed briefly visiting the Free Library of Philadelphia's main location (Parkway Central), as well as two of the many branches. I donated a copy of my first book (True Christianity: It May Not Be What You Think) to the main library, which I hope they can add to the library's collection; if not, they can put it in their Friends of the Library Bookstore. I used free Internet access on public computers at the libraries to transfer pictures from my digital camera to a USB flash drive.
I would love to have taken a guided tour of the main library location, but did not due to limited time.
I also briefly visited two new bookstores (the John Fox Bookshop and a Barnes and Noble location) and three used bookstores that happened to be near the areas where I was seeing other things. The three used bookstores included one operated by the Friends of the Library, as well as The Book Trader. The Book Trader had lots of books on two levels, as well as many more in boxes stacked on the floor, but I only browsed briefly instead of searching diligently to find some good out-of-print books (which I am confident were there). And thanks to my (1) "brief" browsing, (2) limited budget, and (3) limited space in my luggage, I did not buy any books.
Lodging
The Philadelphia area features numerous hotels. Compared to rates in center city Philadelphia, rates are significantly cheaper in the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania towns that are suburbs of Philadelphia, and around the Philadelphia airport. However, I think it is nice to stay in center city and to be able to walk to many historic tourist attractions, restaurants, etc. It saves travel time back and forth from the hotel to other sites; the travel time and travel money saved partially offsets the higher price.
If you visit Philadelphia and plan to stay in center city, I recommend you consider the Alexander Inn, which is where I stayed my two nights in Philadelphia (June 16 and 17). The Alexander Inn's price was much lower than most other quality hotels in center city and includes some nice little features that make it seem more homey. But it is not for everyone; it does not have a pool, conference room for business meetings, room service, or blackout drapes. Also, many of its rooms are relatively small. And it is in high demand, so you may need to make reservations well in advance.
Conclusion/Summary
I truly very much enjoyed visiting Philadelphia and hope to visit again sometime.
I met several interesting, nice persons in Philadelphia (as well as along the way there and back), and Philadelphia contains many sites I would love to tour that I didn't on this trip. Philly (as many call it) seems to be a wonderful city, overall.
I left Philadelphia Saturday evening (June 18, 2016) and got back to Lexington the next day, Sunday afternoon (June 19).
NOTE: All photos in this article were taken by the author (James Edwin Gibson) during his Philadelphia trip using a digital camera. This article was last modified on June 27, 2016.
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