Philadelphia Adventure!

 

 On Friday, I went on an adventure to explore Philadelphia for a day! This was the first time I went to a larger city in Pennsylvania and the first time I have ever rode in a train! Ally and I went to the Amtrak train station in Harrisburg at 7:45am to buy our day tickets and loaded into the train. The train ride was very peaceful because we weren't in rush hour traffic and saw the different trees changing color along the ride. We made quite a few stops before we got to Philadelphia around 9:30am. Our day was pretty busy and we walked everywhere! We walked about 80 city blocks when it was all said and done, it was definitely something I will always remember! On our adventure, we were able to see: the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Ben Franklin's printing press, Betsy Ross's home, Magic Gardens, Vietnam and Korean War Memorial,  Rittenhouse Square, and did a lot of site seeing.


The Liberty Bell was really neat! I really enjoyed seeing it up close in person and it was pretty cool to see "Pass and Stow" in person as well as the large crack. I got a lot of history in leading up to it because there were different panels before you walk to see the bell. I haven't taken a history class in a few years and I felt like I was learning new things because I hadn't talked about it or learned about it in years. I was surprised about how close I could actually get to the bell, we could get as close as we wanted, just couldn't touch. The bell itself weighs 2000 pounds, I could not imagine trying to move it, especially in the "olden days". While we were waiting in line to get into the Liberty Bell, there was a protest going on outside with graphic pictures of abortion. I was surprised how freely they came to you wanting to give you flyers, I didn't approach them at all, so that was also a first experience for me! After the Liberty Bell, we moved to Independence Hall. We managed to get tickets into the tour and the tour lasted about 20-30 minutes. During this tour we went through doors that George Washington, John Hancock and many others went through! I saw where the Declaration of Independence was signed. And then where the Constitution was signed 11 years later. I was surprised about how the rooms looked, though they were staged rooms, the tour guide stated that some of the materials in the room were relevant to the times and some were actually there when all these historic events 


John Barry Statue

happened. While waiting for the tour, a woman was yelling "Hawkeye" and I misheard her thinking she was saying "Hot Guy" until I looked down and realized I was wearing an Iowa Hawkeye sweater. I approached her apologizing how I misheard her and then I learned she is from Spencer, Iowa! She was visiting the area and they are heading to Delaware now. It was nice to see someone who understands the excitement that I feel! It was nice to talk to someone from Iowa because they can relate to some of the excitement I feel about new things. These are not things that are easily travelled to in Iowa, you either have to book a flight or drive 16 hours to see it. She was very friendly and wished me the best of luck while I spend the next few months in Harrisburg.






Constitution



Declaration of Independence



Betsy Ross character

Next, we went to Betsy Ross's house. I never realized how traumatic her life had been. She out lived her family and her mother and sister died 3 days apart because of Yellow Fever. She was also pretty rebellious about making the flag and she later made parts for guns. While going through her house, the steps were very steep and the kitchen was in the basement of the house. There was also an actor who was Betsy and answered questions about her in character and explained what it was like to be her from her stance. Going to Betsy's house was definitely one of my favorite things I had done in Philly. We stopped and looked at Ben Franklin's printing press and it reminded me of the musical The Newsies! I can't imagine making papers like that back then. She explained the binding methods and that looks like an incredible amount of work! The speakers talked about Silence Dogood letters and it reminded me of National Treasure. It really shows how intelligent Ben Franklin was! Impressive! 

Ben Franklin's Printing Press

Next, Ally and I went to get lunch. I bought my first ever Philly cheese Steak sandwich from a food truck and we went to a local park and sat down to eat. I would have to say the sandwich was pretty good and I had a slight encounter with pigeons. We sat at a bench that had a broken cracker on the ground and one pigeon found it. The next thing I know is about 30 pigeons were flying over and were inches away from my food and body. I  was not a big fan of them, but we kicked towards them and once the cracker was all gone, they left us alone.

After lunch, we walked a few blocks to visit the memorials for Vietnam and Korean War. I have always liked history so going to the memorials really stood out to me. I saw many names on granite and though all of them are from the Philly area and I didn't know a single one, it kind of put me into perspective

Korean War Memorial

of what it was like during that time. Rows and rows of names just from that area, I can't imagine what all the names would have looked like if every single name would have been in one location.

Vietnam War Memorial

When Ally and I were finished paying our respects, we walked another 10 or so blocks to get to a place called Magic Gardens. I didn't know what it was, but I was told by multiple people it was really cool and worth the 5 dollar fee. I was expecting some flower garden with some interesting sculptures or something but when I got there, I was pleased and shocked to find out that there was not a single flower in the place. This magic garden was truly magic because everything was mosaic. The artist, Isaiah Zagar, uses materials that are

someone else's trash, I saw hundreds, if not thousands, of old glass bottles, old bicycle tire rims, broken mirrors, plates and cups... It was so cool! He used concrete to make structures you could walk under and had different levels. Some of the walls were about 40 feet high and every inch of it was mosaic. I had never seen anything like that in my whole life. It was incredible. Magic Gardens is also non-profit and helps the Philadelphia community a lot and you will find Isaiah Zagar's art mosaic murals everywhere you go. He breaks the pieces up, but I noticed that one thing he uses a lot are facial features. There are repeating eyes, smiles, fingers and toes all around his work and you can definitely tell he has a trend. I am extremely happy we went to Magic Gardens, it was something I've never seen before!

We also walked Italian Market and strolled along the different sales. There wasn't a lot going on today but over the weekend, I cant imagine out busy it would be. You could get a bunch of asparagus for one dollars, 3 pounds of apples for 2 dollars, 3 pounds of bananas for $1.50. We don't have markets like these so it was interesting to see one in person. The market went on for blocks and blocks.
Throughout the day we would need to sit down for a bit because we had been walking a lot. We stopped at a local ice cream place and ate some ice cream in a cup. The décor in the restaurant was really cute, they had painted chairs that had different story book characters like Winnie the Pooh, Charlotte's Web, Dr. Seuss, and then just inspirational quotes. Oh, and the ice cream was pretty great, too!
Before we headed back to the 30th St Train station, we sat in Rittenhouse Square for about 45 minutes. We sat to prepare for the 10 block walk we were going to finish off with and because we had pretty much accomplished everything we wanted to do that day. We people watched and made some comparisons to Harrisburg. There aren't children in Harrisburg, partly because if you have children you most likely live in Camp Hill if you can afford it and there is no good park in Harrisburg. It was fun to see young families and their children play. I saw more young people in Philly than I have seen in Harrisburg the whole 2 months I've been here. Its definitely a more populated area and it seems to be more "hipster" or "trendy" than Harrisburg.
I'm really happy I went on this adventure to Philly, my brother was also in Philly that same day but unfortunately we were not able to see each other because we were on opposite ends of the city. The city is not made for semi-trucks and I wouldn't have been able to walk 15 miles or the taxi cab was $2.80 per mile, so it just wasn't in the cards. I was really disappointed that I wasn't able to see him.
My goal while I am on the East Coast is to make it to as many different cities as I can, on my list currently, I would love to see Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington, D.C, and go to New York again. I'm not sure if all of the cities will be seen, but I am hoping to make it to as many as I can.

This week at work will be very busy! On Saturday, October 25th, the Color Rush will be happening at Dickinson College! I have been working on this for about 2 months, I started it right when I started work. I hope we get a great turn out! Right now we have about 40 runners, and would love to make it to the triple digits! I will let y'all know how it goes! It should be a lot of fun!

Love,
Katie