Check - Philadelphia Independence Hall, et al

Good Friday - April 6, Brian took a day off, just for the fun of it. Miracle of all miracles!

So we reserved tickets to tour Independence Hall and took the day to explore Philly. I think Michael had the best seat in the house:

We arrived 45 minutes early as recommended by their website to get through security.

If Rick Steves had a book for Philadelphia, he would have told us to just get tickets for free at the booth and show up about 10 minutes prior to the tour time.

So in our waiting time, we took a picture:
Michael terrorized his father, and Brian did his best to defend himself:
When we got in, we sat through a short history lesson. Then, we saw the first (of two) room on the tour. Michael got the best spot, and I resigned myself to take some pictures from my back row seat for a 5'1" person:
I ran into the hall and took some pictures of this blue room. I loved this light powdery grey blue, but now I'm sick of it:
And it's all over my house. AAK.

Next up, the room in which the Constitution was signed:
Michael enjoyed most of the talk on this windowsill:
There he is being a putz for the camera.

After this, gift shop time:
He didn't buy these, but it was fun anyways:
Instead, he convinced us to buy him a mini liberty bell that works. Something about Michael - he is a knick-knack collector. He's started himself a little collection in his room.

After purchasing said knick knack, he finally stopped whining and was excited to visit the Liberty Bell.

AFTER Mommy said, "Photo OP!"



We waited in the long, but fast moving line to see our famed liberty bell:

Michael thought the liberty bell was the BEST because it was bigger than his DAD.

After this, we had lunch at La Scala's Italian restaurant because it was recommended in my "Walks of Philadelphia" card. The best thing they had was pizza, which isn't too much of a compliment.

Then, we decided we needed to walk 19 more blocks EACH WAY to see Rittenhouse Square. People had said it was cool and my little "Walks of Philadelphia" card said the flagship store of Philly based Anthropologie was there at that Rittenhouse Square.

Say no more, my friends. Say no more.

So we went and Rittenhouse Square is just that - a square with a diagonal through it. Just one. Nothing pretty. No playground. Just some park benches and a protest.

I'll pass on that next time.

I bet you are reading in anxious anticipation for my account of the flagship Anthropologie store.

It.Was.A.Letdown.

5 floors, each with about 1200 sq ft each and only about 30 different items on each floor. It was A LOT of work for not much payout.

I won't be back. And that was the case for most of the shopping in this "fancy" area of Philly. They even had a Zara, but the store had about 100 things in it TOTAL. RIDICULOUS.

I realize this post has a bit of a negative tone to it (imagine that). We did enjoy our day "in the city!" It was nice to get out and do something different for a change instead of just lounging around in the country and working on the house. It reminded us of how much we do enjoy to travel and see things!

I'm just thinking Philly just wasn't what we had in mind as far as "travel" is concerned! :)