Elfreth's Alley is America's oldest, continuous residental street. We took a tour of one of the houses and walked through a garden that used to house the public water supply and out-house.

I'm thinking automatic plumbing and the flush toilet bowl has to be one of the better inventions of the nineteenth century.


We strolled down Arch Street passing by the Betsy Ross House, Quaker Meeting House, and the Christ Church Burial Ground where Ben Franklin's grave is. We were running out of time so didn't get to view those sites in detail.

This banner was displayed outside the Quaker Meeting House. I like its message.


The next and final stop was the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. I was a bit disappointed that one had to go through security checks (like at an airport) to visit these historic sites. They even asked John if he had a pocket knife in his camera bag. He didn't.

We walked through Liberty Bell Center which displayed lots of stuff on the Liberty Bell (most of which I didn't feel like reading). At the end of the Center, the Liberty Bell was displayed.

Did you know, on the reverse side of the Bell, Pennsylvania is spelled Pensylvania? Not sure if it is an error or if that's how the state name was spelled back then.

I guess if I had taken the time to read some of the stuff in the Center, I would have found out.


And finally, we visited Congress Hall and Independence Hall.

Both were quite informative. Did you know, our forefathers had to decide how our government should be operated? E.G., they had to decide how many presidents there should be and if the common man should be allowed to vote. Things we take for granted.

In Congress Hall, we learned how George Washington peacefully gave up his presidency to John Adams and that he set the precidence of two terms in office.

It was a brand new government back then. The folks then decided, for the most part, how our government and country would be run and operated.

If you're ever in this part of the country, go on and visit Philadelphia's Independence Mall area. It's quite worth hearing the history of our country.

Here's Independence Hall. You can see the barriers around the building and area.

The security has been in place since 9/11.


After our tour of Philadelphia, we went back to John's sister's, Gigi's and then on to a 14th birthday party for his niece. We ate at a restaurant with talking moose and buffalo.

Here's John's sister, Gigi. Her daughter was the one having the birthday party.



Here's sister, Tara.

An enjoyable time was spent with John's family. As I said with my family, time spent with family is never quite enough.