Monday, 11 May 2009

Philadelphia

A monument on the waterfront in Philadelphia in memory of the Quakers who arrived here in the 1680's to escape persecution from the Church in England.

Benjamin Franklin's grave - the only non President to appear on a US ($100) Bank Note - if you ever get that question right on Who Wants to be A Millionaire - think you at least owe me dinner (or a plane ticket depending on how much you win!!)

The first American Flat was thought to have been made here at Betsy Ross House - 13 stars & 13 stripes for the then 13 states of the Union.


Because the Quakers didn't believe in naming streets after people when they established Philadelphia those running West/East were called after trees/food etc - I even saw one called Elbow St!!! The North/South running streets are numbered though 'First' Street is 'Front' Street as again the Quakers believed only God was First.

I was lucky enough to catch the Cherry Trees in blossom - very pretty - and they only blossom for a couple of weeks.
Elfreths Alley which was built in 1775 and is America's oldest continuously residential street.





Chom Poo Moo enjoys meeting some of Philadelphia's colourful characters.



Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed on 4th July 1776.



The Liberty Bell which was brought over from England in 1751 to Philadelphia - the original USA Capital City - mainly became a national icon during the Civil War when anti-Slave groups (and later woman's right groups) used it in publications to promote their cause (hence the name of course!!) . The big crack in the bell was made deliberately in event to stop a hairline fracture circling along the bell - didn't quite go to plan though!!

The Jellybean People display at the Liberty Museum - don't want to count those things!! Quite an imaginative way to highlight the message of equality to kids - that though all different colours on the outside all jellybeans are the same....

An old Fire Engine at the Fire Brigade Museum.
There were some funny badges for the different fire crews.

And I liked this stained glass window.


Isaiah Zager over the last 30 years has recycled various items to cover over 40,000 square feet of Philadelphia with tiled Mosaics - these one's are at the 'Magic Gardens' which locals fought to keep after the local government wanted to sell the land for development.



I couldn't come to Phillie without trying one of the famous Philly Cheese Steaks and where else to do that than at Pat's place where in the 1930's 2 Italian brothers created them. You can tell Phillie's favourite Cheese Steak restaurants as there are big queue's outside them and as you can see from the board there is only one way to order them - I was warned that if you don't do it right they will just leave you standing there and move onto the next customer - enough motivation for me to make sure at least one person in the US understood me!!

My sort of message.....

After my visit to the Fire Museum I spotted lots of these plaques on the houses in Phillie - they show which insurance company you were with in event of fire only fire engines from this company would attend a fire at your house - there was lots of dirty tricks played - blocking of roads/smashed hydrants/violence - to stop fire engines reaching fires in an attempt to gain more control and of course money!!

Lots of nice old buildings here as well.



The Philadelphia Art Museum - most famous for the steps that Sylvestor Stallone ran up in the original Rocky movie before punching the air (are you now humming the theme tune??) - very funny to stand here and watch loads of people re-enact that scene from the movie.

And once they have their breathe back they have to go get their photo taken with Rocky himself :-)


The "Gates of Hell' & 'Thinking Man' at the Rodin Museum.

Some quirky artists & street entertainers along the streets.

The Eastern State Penitentiary built in the 1820's this place had running water before the White House - when it was first opened prisoners were taken to their cell with a hood over their heads and never saw another person during their whole sentence - fed through hatches/exercised in a small yard of their cell and hooded if they ever had to leave.......

Chom Poo Moo didn't like the thought of this life style so decided to mastermind her own escape...
Things had eased off a little by the time Al Capone served his sentence here for illegal possession of a firearm - though the police & courts were trying to be tough on him he seemed to have a pretty easy time on the inside!!

The sun came out so I went for a walk around Fairmount Park and was entertained watching groups of people Disco Skate....

Baseball certainly seemed the game the locals loved.....

Some road worker had a sense of humour and had drawn this little dead guy on the road next to the zebra crossing lines!!!

Sunset over Phillie.

Think the photo's about cover my few days in Philedelphia - the sun came out which made it really nice to wander round the city Lots of history here and it's a fairly laid back & pretty city.
Travels continue to go well - no disasters or illnesses (avoiding Pig Flu!) and no gossip for you....so am going to head off and get myself to bed.
Will be back soon.....

Jack xx

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