Historic Philadelphia

Philadelphia is the birthplace of the United States. It is the 6th largest city in the nation yet not over whelming. It is a city of neighbourhoods and contrasts – skyscrapers soaring above national icons. With a downtown historic district easy for exploring on foot and a hop on and off trolley bus to tour the rest of the City it is a destination just waiting to be explored.

We were only in the City for a short time so we limited our explorations to the historic old town and the Museum of Art.

Arriving Sunday we went straight to the Museum of Art (closed on Mondays) - home to the best collection of modern art in the USA including Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Picasso’s Three Musicians. The children particularly like the Japanese tearoom and the most amazing Arms and Armor collection. The 99 steps up to the entrance made famous in the movie ‘Rocky’ are popular in themselves and yes…we all ran up them!

After a couple of hours we were ready to snack so headed for Reading Terminal Market, Philadelphia’s famous indoor market under the roof of the world’s largest single arch train shed. From the famous Philly cheese steaks to cup cakes and exotic cheeses to fresh seafood & oysters, this eclectic mix of flavours and variety of foods offered by the 80 different vendors must not be missed.

Monday morning and we started our day at the Independence Visitor Centre – the gateway to the historic park and home to a theatre showing a 30 minute movie ‘Independence’ giving an interesting if a little complicated for the children depiction of the historic events.

From there we passed the archaeological remains of the President’s House before walking through the glass enclosed ‘Liberty Bell’ pavilion. After more than 200 years inside Independence Hall the Liberty Bell replete with famous crack now sits in its own dedicated centre in front of Independence Hall, much more accessible and visible to visitors.

Independence Hall is where the Declaration of Independence was signed and the Constitution was adopted. It is a non imposing red brick building, with its clock tower and steeple, now one of the nation’s greatest icons. Sadly it was under scaffolding when we were there but we enjoyed the fascinating 20 minute walking tour of the East Wing standing in the very rooms where Washington, Franklin and Jefferson sat and where the Declaration of Independence was signed!

Time for a quick lunch of a Philly cheese steaks at ‘Campo’s’ on Market St before walking past Christ Church and down Elfreth’s Alley, the oldest continuously occupied residential street in America.

Given our time constraints we were limited to the number of attractions we could visit. Should we return (and we hope to in the spring) we would like to visit the Franklin Institute (housing the world’s largest model of a human heart), the National Constitution Centre and eat our way around the Italian Market…all closed on Mondays!