TOURISTS

We got a fairly early start (for us) and, after a quick bite to eat
we walked up to the Independence Visitor’s Center. It was only 9 blocks away!! At the Visitors Center we got all of the tourist stuff, including the first of the many pressed pennies we’d get in Philly. We also stopped for our first “Philly Cheese Steak“ at Campo’s before getting on a Tour bus to see the town.,


The bus took us on a route that highlighted most of Philadelphia and we took notes of where we wanted to go back to and what we wanted to see. A tour bus is cool if you get a knowledgeable guide who also gives you information not normally mentioned on the tour… like where Mannequin was filmed, where the largest pipe organ in the world is located, where the first flavor of ice cream (tomato) was made, what fire protection insurance plaques look like and the location of William Penn’s naughty statue!! (It's only his hand ...really!) It was fun and very interesting!!

After the bus tour, we got off at the center of the city, near Independence Square. From there, we went walking and visited the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the Bourse House, (all of which had pressed pennies to collect!) before walking back to the boat exhausted!!!

The rain and wind, which had been forecast on all of the networks, started just as we arrived at boat. I figure we walked close to 5 miles today so, since the weather looked bad, we just had some soup on board before being rocked to sleep, courtesy of the wind!!!

All in all, it was a really great day for Gordon to celebrate his 61st birthday!!!