Philadelphia - Day trip from Washington DC

Day 6 - This is the 6th day of our Washington DC trip - we take a day trip to Philadelphia

This morning we got up at 6am to get to Union Station for a 7:15am train to Philadelphia.  We got there in plenty of time and got in the front of the line so we could sit together on the train.  By 9:15 we were in Philly and ready to start our adventure.  We took Amtrak – not sure if it was the cheapest or not, it was about $50/person each way.

 

We exited the 30^th street station near Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania.  This station was in a good location for us, because we could walk to our first stops.  We headed along the river to the Philadelphia Museum of art to climb the famed “Rocky Steps” from the movie “Rocky.”  After a pretty easy mile walk we got to the museum and climbed the steps.  The view from the top was very nice – you could see a picturesque view of downtown Philadelphia.  After descending the steps, we got a picture in front of the “Fighter” statue in the nearby grounds. 



On our walk from 30th street station
to the "Rocky Steps"

  
 

From there, we walked about a half-mile to our second stop, The Eastern State Penitentiary.  This jail, which was revolutionary in its time, was built in the early 1800’s to hold violent offenders in solitary confinement.  The prison was closed in the 1970’s, and at one time housed Al Capone.  The grounds are now an exhibit on the old Penitentiary and the prison system in general.  The first part of the tour was a self-guided tour of interested spots, narrated by Steve Buscemi.  The headphone system was very easy to use and kept you moving through the correct parts of the prison.  It would be a pretty creepy place after dark, maybe haunted.  During the day though, we could study the architecture and systems used over the 150 years the prison was open.  We got a lot of cool pictures and learned a lot about different types of correctional systems around the world.     All told, we were there a little over an hour.  Admission was about $15 for adults and reduced for students.  I recommend a visit to this site. 



From where we were, it was 3 miles to the historic district, so we grabbed an Uber and headed to Christ Church.  This medium sized church is thought to be a source of the Episcopalian branch of Christianity and was attended by many famous people including George Washington, Betsy Ross, and Ben Franklin.  With a small entry fee, we got a tour of the church where they described the history and showed us some of the famous pews.  We spent about 30 minutes at Christ Church.  Then went to go find Sonny’s for some Philly Cheesesteaks, which it seems they just call “Steaks.” 

 
 

Sonny’s was only two blocks away and despite about a 15 person line, we were able to grab a seat inside and get our order in about 15 minutes.  The Steaks were very good – thinly sliced and you could choose what kind of cheese you wanted.  Shellie got Grilled Cheese with sliced ribeye and Brooke got a burger which was just OK.  Then Shellie and Brooke went next door for ice cream.

On the way to go see the Liberty Bell, we happened on the Ben Franklin Museum, which was really interesting – I think Ben and I would have been buds back in the day because he was really curious and liked to question everything.  He had a lot of influential inventions and social improvements like bifocals, lending libraries, volunteer fire departments.  An active swimmer, he invented a kite for swimming fast (like windsurfing) and swim paddles.  He did not invent or discover electricity, but really pushed the science of it by defining positive, negative, and battery terms and lightning rods.  He loved astronomy and could predict eclipses.  He is also known for many famous phrases like “Haste makes waste.” We spent about 45 minutes in the museum and it was a small fee to enter.

 

Then we went in search of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.  Independence Hall was taking its last group for the day, which was only in early afternoon, so we did not get to tour it.  So get there early if you want to see that landmark where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed.  So then we walked a short distance to the building where the Liberty Bell was signed.  We could see the bell through a clear side window with people walking around it, but couldn’t get a great view, so we walked to the front where there were slightly fewer than a billion people in line to get into the building.  So we aborted that and went across the street to the Independence Visitor Center. 

 


 

At the Visitor Center, besides enjoying the free AC, we bought some souvenirs and listened to a guy play dulcimer.  Then we hung out at the Hershey café and plotted our next move.  We have a few hours to burn prior to the baseball game, so we looked for a movie, but nothing looked good or had the right timing.  I found out there was mini-golf at Ben Franklin Park about two blocks away so we did that.  Bix, Brooke, and I played the patriotic themed course while Shellie finished her book on a nearby park bench.  Bix gave up the lead on 16 and I swooped in for the kill.

 
 
After golfing, we headed to the park – took another Uber and went to a large indoor outdoor place across from Citizen’s Bank Park.  The place had a stage outside and played music inside where there were about five restaurants.  We enjoyed some beer and queso for about an hour before the Phillies game and then headed across the street to the park.   Citizens Bank Park seemed to us like a big version of the Dell Diamond in Round Rock – with more stores and capacity – they had a couple of cool extra features – Pass and Stow, a large indoor outdoor place to eat and watch sports was on the grounds, and the kids area was cool with a whiffleball field and giant rock wall where you climb a huge picture of the Philly Phanatic.  Our seats along the right field line were pretty good especially after the sun started to set, but Atlanta ended up whipping the Phillies 9-2.

 We took a cab back to 30^th street station and caught our train which was 45 minutes late – getting to our hotel at a robust 2:30 in the morning – yay. 

Tomorrow (today?) we go home.