The Yankee Doodle Tootle: For whom the bell tolls....

As we were rolling into Philly, I (Donna) was suddenly giddy about seeing a city new to me with such historical significance. In effort to feed my excitement, I asked my kids what they were most excited about seeing. Answering oldest to youngest, here were their replies..

1. Runcie: "Rocky Statue"
2. Elizabeth: "Taking pictures"
3. Gigi: "Rocky Statue and The Liberty Bell"
4. Francey: "The 'Liverty' Bell"

Navigating through the city, we wound our way around a few times to find a lot that could accommodate us best. Thanks to advice from Fred Aggers, we paid special attention to all parking regulations (there were plenty) and we recognized that in our self pay lot it was $12 for vehicles. Fine print indicated it was $5 extra for large vans and SUVs. Of course there was no parking attendant for questions or change, so we just threw a $20 into our slot and moved on.

We headed down to the Independence Hall area and soon found ourselves in a rather long line to see the Liberty Bell. Once inside, it was fascinating to see such an important piece of our history. After taking the obligatory pictures, Francey asked me, "Mommy, what is 'liverty'?"

My answer was straightforward. "Freedom."

A guard overheard our exchange and quickly intervened. "No, no, no, no... " Looking into Francey's eyes she corrected, "Liberty is whatever you want it to be."

I looked down at Francey and saw that she had already moved on to something else, but my kids all listened in as the guard used her tablet to show the kids some fun activities/games/questions on the Liberty Bell website to help kids gain a better understanding of how liberty means different things to all people.

As we left Liberty Hall, we found a restaurant where we enjoyed lunch, and cheesesteak was on the Runcies's menu. This was the first for our boy; his plate was licked clean and a smile was on his face. I know he'll be ordering that one again.

After lunch we hopped on a double decker tour bus. As silly as it sounds, we were really revved up about the Rocky steps. As soon as we arrived at the "Rocky" bus stop, we jumped off the bus and excitedly had a race up the steps. A little part of me died when Gigi beat me to the top, BUT she was wearing running shoes and we all know that wedge flip flops aren't conducive to running steep, concrete steps (*wink wink*)

There were so many historical sites in this city... too many to write at length about, but all I can say is if you can make it to Philly, you may want to give it more than half a day. All told, we had a blast. Now, to get some sleep so we can take a bite out of the big apple tomorrow....

Some pics from today...

old post office