Friday, July 4, 2014

July 4 - 2014 - Day 2

It is July 4th and we first went to the Visitors Bureau to get tickets to go to the Dolly Todd Madison and Bishop Whites homes.  Our tour was for 1:30pm.

We walked around the area of the historical city that was devoted to homes and had fun looking in all of the windows.  When it was time to go to the 10:30am Tour of the Independence Mall, we found ourselves being sent around a couple of large blocks to get to where we needed to go.  The reason was Vice President Biden was going to speak at the July 4th opening and all of the major streets were blocked off for his arrival.
We finally met out tour group at a new location and spent the next 2 ½ hours on a walking tour of the Independence Mall area seeing lots of historical sites and hearing about the history of Philadelphia.
After the tour, we went to the Dolly Todd Madison and Bishop White’s homes which were very interesting in that one was a middle class home (Madison’s) and the other was middle – upper class home – the Bishop Whites.  It was interesting seeing the difference in the two homes.  After that we went to the Betsy Ross home for a tour.

Next we went to the original Quaker meeting hall where they still hold their meetings.  We spent time with one of their members learning about the Quakers and I we were very impressed.
Next we took the bus to the two most famous Philly Cheesesteak places, Geno’s and Pats.  They are located in south Philly and are on opposite corners.  To see which was the best, we bought a sandwich at each and split them.  We both liked the one from Geno’s but decided that we had tasted enough Philly Cheesesteaks for our life!!
By this time, it was 5:00pm so we took the bus back to the hotel to change for the evening.

We took the bus part way to the fireworks and then walked the rest of the way, about 2 miles.  As we were entering the grounds, we found a food stand that was named Festival Foods!!  They had huge lines, but they didn't know how to move them. 

We found a perfect spot in a baseball field, watched people, listened to the music and waited for the fireworks to start at 10:30pm and they finally started at 11:00pm.  We both agreed that these fireworks were the worst of the cities we have visited – but it was still fun.  Then a long walk back to the hotel and time for bed as it is already tomorrow which is our anniversary.

Night from Philadelphia and we hope that everyone had a happy fourth.

Barb just looking!
 

Pat's Cheesesteak

Geno's Cheesesteak
 
The Quaker meeting hall

                                                               Festival Foods

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