Liberty City (also called Philadelphia)

Sunday,April 6: Philadelphia

We went to Philly early in the morning. After a 1h drive we found our chosen Park’n’Ride parking space IMMEDIATELY. Signs and wonders happen!!!:-)
But of course not everything went like we wanted and it was cold and rainy…Unfortunately there was no bus (Remember, the sign says 24h/7days a week shuttle service). But shit happens, we started to walk then. You already know we are really good in walking! So we walked through some not so nice neighborhoods and finally reached University city where all universities, including The UPenn (University of Pennsylvania) are located. So we just looked for a bus stop to go downtown.Cause we didn’t know exactly how to get there we had to ask someone and met two reeeaaallllyyy strange guys. They might have been on drugs…but they were so friendly and helped us with the bus and we had fun watching them…☺
A few minutes later we arrived in downtown at the Independence Mall and recognized that a lot of stores are closed on Sundays. So we walked on and found the Visitors Centre around which all the historic buildings are settled in the so called Independence National Historic Park. We started with visiting the Liberty Bell and after that we joined a tour through Independence hall were the Declaration of Independence and The American Constitution were signed.

Our tour guide was so funny and it was really interesting to hear again about the American struggle to become independent. And the best, everything is for free, no entrance fees!! So you can see the government cares a lot about educating the people well in their history.

After that we did make a walk to Penn’s Landing, a famous destination at the bank of Delaware River. It is said that William Penn (the founder of Pennsylvania) landed here in 1683. Here you can see some famous old ships like the “USS Olympia” (flagship of Admiral George Dewey’s fleet) or the Portuguese sailing ship “Gazela” which is still able to sail and works as a representing ship of Philadelphia. Afterwards we walked back to Washington Square where we saw the tomb of the unknown soldier, a tomb honoring all the unknown soldiers died in the American Revolution.

We also saw all the other famous historic buildings like the first and second bank of America, the Carpenter’s Hall and different houses and monuments of famous people like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Edgar Allan Poe etc.
But then we were so cold and freezy that we only wanted to go somewhere warm. And so we combined that with trying the famous Philly Cheese Steak. But honestly, it isn’t very good. Like a cheeseburger in a Hot Dog Bun…☺
After that we decided to go back to the car and so we did walk the whole way back strolling on Chestnut, Walnut and Broad Street where a lot of nice shops were.

We finally reached the parking place and went back home to reading. There we bought our tickets for the Phillies next Friday and finally started my Russian lessons and I must say I really love it and will keep approving it!!