2016 Vacation Part Two - Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA DAY ONE - "Science Day"

Olivia's 12th Birthday = Breakfast at Reading Terminal Market (Beiler's Donuts) = City Hall and Observation Deck = Dilworth Park = LOVE Statue = Government of the People Statue = Mutter Museum = Lunch at Reading Terminal Market (DiNic's roast pork, broccoli rabe, and provolone sandwich) = Gummy snacks from Sweet As Fudge Candy Shoppe = Logan Square = Franklin Institute Science Museum = Dinner at LaScala

First was breakfast at the Reading (pronounced Red-ing) Market - a large public market that has operated since 1892.  It is full of restaurants, fresh produce/seafood/meat/cheeses, bakeries, snacks, and craft items.  I could have eaten breakfast and lunch here every single day - it was perfectly located to both the historic sites and the museums.

BEST donuts ever!  If you ever go to Beiler's Donuts, you must get the apple fritter.  We learned that the simple donuts were better, as opposed to the cream filled donuts.

Art and history everywhere in this city!

Hanging out before our City Hall Observation Deck tour.  The plaza across the street had a lot of fun statues of various game pieces - dominoes, chess pieces, checkers, Sorry pieces, etc.

City Hall is called both an eye sore and a marvel by the Philly residents.  We considered it to be a marvel, and really loved the small yet quiet courtyard inside of the Hall.  

Taking in the view from the observation deck at 548 feet high.  The elevator can only hold six people at a time (stairs are not an option), so you basically have the entire deck to yourself for 15 minutes.  Plus you can get an up close look at the statue of William Penn located on top of City Hall.  This statue is 37' tall, and is the largest statue on top of a building anywhere in the world.  It used to make City Hall the tallest building in Philly, but now Comcast Center (which looks like a flashdrive) takes that honor.  However, we almost didn't get to see this wonderful view since our pre-reserved time was given away to someone else!  We arrived 30 minutes early for our viewing, and found out that the ticket office sold our time to another family and told us to come back later (which was not an option for us).  After much back and forth, we were given access to the Deck at a time that worked for us, plus received a phone call apology and a ticket reimbursement for their mistake.

The view down Broad Street - leading to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Broad Street is considered the longest street in the country, even though City Hall is located right in the middle of the street (which in my mind makes it not a continuous street and thus a bit of a falsehood, but whatever).

The LOVE statue (in Dilworth Park)!  Honestly, we thought that this statue would be a lot bigger, but it was still fun to see it.

This day of our vacation was Olivia's 12th birthday.  I had planned 3 different days worth of activities, and let her pick the itinerary she wanted for her big day.  She specifically wanted to see the Mutter (pronounced Moo - ter) Museum.  This is a collection of 25,000 very unique medical specimens and ailments.  There is a wall of skulls, a piece of Einstein's brain, casts of siamese twins, examples of various diseases, an interesting display of Grimm's Fairy Tales medical ailments, and so on.  No pictures were allowed inside (very strictly observed by multiple security guards), but let's just say that the kids' expressions varied between fascinated and disgusted.  We all agreed that the most fascinating/disgusting thing that they had was the actual colon of a man who had "Toxic Megacolon".  

Back to the Reading Terminal Market for lunch at the best place - DiNic's!  Their roast pork sandwich topped with broccoli rabe and provolone is fantastic (and deemed to be America's best sandwich by the Travel Channel).  We were lucky enough to find four seats at the counter, and the line snaked around the restaurant and beyond.  The first picture of Joe was taken early in the morning as DiNic's was preparing the pork for the day - there were about 15 trays of pork shoulder in their prep area.

After lunch we walked to the Franklin Institute Science Museum, located in Logan Square.  The kids had a lot of fun exploring this museum, especially the special "The Science Behind Pixar" exhibit.  

The birthday girl got to pick the restaurant for dinner, and she wanted Italian food at LaScala (conveniently located near our hotel).  

PHILADELPHIA DAY TWO - "History Day"

Independence Visitor Center = Independence Hall tour = President's House Site = Liberty Bell Center = Declaration House (not open) = Washington Square = Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution = Signers Garden = Carpenter's Hall = National Liberty Center = Lunch at City Tavern = Franklin Court, Museum, and Post Office = Christ Church = Elfreth's Alley = Betsy Ross House = Christ Church Burial Ground/Benjamin Franklin's Grave = US Mint = National Constitution Center = Phillies vs. Giants at Citizens Bank Park = Cheesesteak at Tony Luke's crabfries at Chickie's and Pete's at ballpark = Philly Phanatic encounter = Evening walk on Independence Mall 

Philly day two started at the Independence Visitor Center to pick up our tickets for Independence Hall.  We found this statue to be appropriate for the "City of Brotherly Love", and love the Hall in the background.

Years from now we will be asked what we did on our tour of Philly, and these three will say "played Pokemon Go outside of Independence Hall".  Sigh.  To be fair, they only played it when we had to wait to enter into a site.  Another item that the kids collected throughout this day was "Liberty Bell Cards" of famous people that the park rangers handed out to them after they answered historical trivia.  They collected John Adams, Frederick Douglas, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and Phyllis Wheatley.

We quoted the Broadway musical "Hamilton" a lot on this day.  This is "Here Comes the General!" in front of the George Washington statue outside of Independence Hall.  

Another Hamilton moment "The Room Where It Happened".  Yes, we know that this is not the room the musical referred to, but it is the room where the Declaration of Independence was debated and passed inside Independence Hall.  This was a very interesting room - the chair at the back of the room was the actual chair that Washington sat in while overseeing these debates (it has a gold sun on the back that Franklin famously stated that at first he did not know if the sun was rising or setting, but, after the passing of the Constitution, Franklin determined it to be a rising sun for the country).  Some tables had walking sticks on them that were actually owned by various people in attendance and were placed at the spots their owners sat.  Another interesting fact - the DOI was passed and signed on July 2, not July 4.  The guide was very clear to point this out and say that July 4 is the day that the DOI was printed for the public.

The Liberty Bell was wonderfully located for any passer-by to see on a daily basis.  The Bell was literally a 1/2 block away from our hotel (Hotel Monaco), so we saw it every day in Philly.  I love this picture taken before the building was open, no visitors to obstruct the picture, and the Independence Hall reflection in the glass is perfect.

We were able to see the Liberty Bell early in the day before it got too crowded, so we got a great picture of the kids and the crack in the Bell.  

Just in case you were curious about how the crack in the Bell formed.

Unfortunately the Declaration House (where Jefferson stayed while writing the Declaration of Independence) was not open when we visited.  Another Hamilton quote "What Did I Miss?" was frequently said here.

In Washington Square Park at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution.  

"The Signer" statue in a park across the street from our hotel.  This is to represent all of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence.  

During our Independence Hall tour, our guide mentioned that much of the Declaration of Independence debate was held inside of pubs.  The guide specifically mentioned that the City Tavern was a popular spot for people like Franklin, Jefferson, and Hamilton.  The City Tavern Restaurant is still in its original building and is run as a restaurant through a non-profit group.  We had no other lunch plans, so made a reservation for this Tavern to continue our historical day.  The food was excellent, the kids loved drinking out of the metal glasses (kept the drinks extra cold), and Joe and I enjoyed trying the "Ales of the Revolution".  These four ales (Washington's Porter, Jefferson's Ale, Franklin's Tavern Spruce, and Hamilton's Ale) are produced by Yards Brewing Company and use the actual brewing recipe that was used back in the 1770s.  Franklin's was our least favorite - tasted like a pine tree.

We were battling the rain all day, and by the time we had walked to Franklin Court (an outline of Franklin's home, a Franklin Museum, Post Office, and Franklin's printing press) it was raining pretty steadily.  Luckily by the time we left the Franklin Museum it had pretty much stopped.  Ethan below is wanting privacy in his "privy".  Oh, all of the wonderful thoughts that were probably dreamed up while in this privy!

One pair of Franklin's actual glasses.

We watched an example of a printing press in action.  

After Franklin's Court, we explored the Betsy Ross home and saw her grave.  I would not have wanted to walk her stairs every day - steep and narrow!

We paid to enter into the Christ Church Burial Ground where Ben Franklin's grave is located.  It is good luck to leave a penny on top of his grave.  However, if you wanted to save the entrance fee, the grave is also located directly next to the fence that allows you to see it from the street (and throw your penny through the fence onto the grave).  However, we were happy to have paid to enter since there were many plaques relating to Franklin that could not be seen from the street, and the graves were interesting to explore.

We ended the day with tours of the US Mint and the National Constitution Center.  Neither allowed pictures to be taken inside.  We all found the US Mint tour to be very interesting, but the Constitution Center could be skipped - it was just OK.

The 2016 Democratic National Convention was held the week prior to our arrival, and there was still evidence of the DNC throughout the town.  One thing was painted donkeys all around town representing the 50 states plus our territories.  We found the Illinois donkey near Reading Market.  At first we wondered why it wasn't painted in the typical Lincoln scene, and then remembered that Lincoln was a Republican!  The red stripe represents "Cardinal red" (the state bird), with blue sky and fields of grain.

And because we did not do enough throughout this day, we also went to the Phillies vs. Giants baseball game.  The Citizens Bank Park was very nice, and we sat behind the Giant's dugout (although we cheered for the Phillies).  Poor Olivia was seated right next to a young man who was very very loud - shouted about every single call in a very strong Jersey accent.  However, he must not have shouted as much as another fan sitting about 2 sections over from us - this fan was thrown out by the home plate umpire in about the 4th inning!  We had never seen that before!

We decided to not do the typical Pat/Gino cheesesteaks and instead ate one at Tony Luke's inside the ballpark.  The line was huge, but the wait was worth it since it was delicious!  We also loved the crabfries with cheese sauce from Chickie's and Pete's.  

We had hoped to get a photo with the Phillies Phanatic mascot, but never dreamed we would get this fun experience!  The Phanatic, while carrying popcorn, walked through the aisle directly behind us, deliberately dropping popcorn on everyone.  He then proceeded to walk back through the aisle and sat down on the woman's lap directly behind me.  While taking pictures of this, the Phanatic stuck my head under his jersey and photo bombed a picture with his tongue sticking out!  It was all hilarious!

When the Phillies hit a homerun, this Liberty Bell lights up and "bongs", while the bell "moves" from side to side.  Luckily, we saw this happen several times during the game!

We walked through Independence Mall after the game on our way from the subway to our hotel.  Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell were perfectly lit up.  I highly recommend visiting the Mall at night to see all of these historical sites lit up.

PHILADELPHIA DAY THREE - "Art Day"

Breakfast at Reading Market (Beiler's Donuts and apple dumpling from Dutch Eating Place) = Rodin Museum = Washington Monument Fountain at Eakins Oval = Rocky Statue = Run up the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps = Lunch at Philadelphia Museum of Art Cafeteria = Philadelphia Museum of Art = Drive to Atlantic City, NJ = Check into Caesar's Hotel = Walk along the Atlantic City boardwalk = Taffy and fudge at Fralingers' = Dinner at Continental

Yes, the Beiler's Donuts are that good that we had to get them twice.  And since the apple dumpling is a very popular thing to get at the Market, we had to try that as well (also delicious). 

The Rodin Museum was a very small yet wonderful museum featuring only works by Rodin.  

Rodin's Gates of Hell based on Dante's "The Divine Comedy".  This piece is about 21 feet high, and is absolutely breathtaking.  Several of Rodin's famous sculptures were inspired by this piece - including The Thinker (towards the top of the Gates), The Three Shades (at the top), and The Kiss.

The Thinker.  This is the second time this summer that we have seen this statue - it is also at the Kansas City Museum of Art.  How is this possible??  Rodin himself primarily worked with clay and plaster, and then others would do his work in bronze.  So, several pieces could be replicated based on Rodin's original.

A view of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from the Washington Monument fountain in Eakins Oval.

Something all true Philly tourists need to do - run up the Museum steps like Rocky.  The majority of the people climbing these stairs were also running.

Another take on the LOVE statue.

Ethan does love to see the Arms and Armor displays. 

The Rocky Statue is no longer located on the top of the Museum stairs, and is now located at the Museum's east entrance.  We took our pictures in the early morning when there was no crowd, but by the time we left the Museum in the late afternoon the line was about 20 deep.