Being a Tourist in the US: Philadelphia

February 8-10, 2019

Chris and I went to Philadelphia where we attended a conference, and I explored the city, including the Barnes Foundation. When we arrived on Friday, we immediately took a Historical City Tour because neither of us had ever been to Philly and wanted to figure out what's what and what's where.  It was a good tour of the downtown by a guide who had a certain take on history - he talked a lot about how history isn't about facts - it's all about interpretation and who's telling the tales. He told us about how history has changed over the years and is told very differently now than it was in the days of the Founding Fathers or right after their deaths.  For instance, we learned that Betsy Ross didn't really create the first flag for the US, but her grandson told the Centennial Committee that she did so convincingly that that story became the accepted truth. She was a seamstress/upholsterer. She did make a flag, but not the first stars and bars. She was significant in history, but not the way we heard the story growing up. It made me wonder how future generations will tell the story of our current times. Which "facts" and which "stories" will become imbedded in our public consciousness and which will be completely forgotten/changed/conveniently discarded.  I suppose that depends on the direction the country takes in the next decades.

I enjoyed seeing Philadelpia.  It's a very walkable city. Good sidewalks, good awareness of the needs of pedestrians, 100's of restaurants, buses, friendly people, lots of fine museums. It was interesting being a tourist in America.  I am very accustomed to seeing foreign cities through the eyes of a tourist, but I rarely ever visit places in America in the same way. It made me think I should perhaps explore the US more!  (Silly me to not have thought about that before!)

These pictures are from the site of Benjamin Franklin's house. There were no accurate records of how the house looked, so instead, this beautiful structure was built to show where it stood and how large it was.  Words from Franklin's letters to his common law wife are inscribed in cement in the ground as they related to the rooms' locations. It was an attractive place and informative and interesting.  Our guide certainly gave me a different picture of Ol' Benjamin than his autobiography had done.

We were fortunate to be there on a beautiful day with a brilliant blue sky and mackeral clouds passing by. In Iceland I took a lot of pictures of the cliffs silhouetted against beautiful skies.  Here is was the buildings which were in silhouette.

The building where the Liberty Bell is housed with the
reflection of Independence Hall in the window.  

It was interesting seeing so many places I'd read about growing up - Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross's house, Benjamin Franklin's post office, etc. As a child I'd developed images of these places in my mind, or the biographies I read had drawings of them in them, or our history books had pictures.  But I'd never seen them in real life, and I hadn't actually thought about their being in Philly. When we decided to go there, I didn't actually consider the history and that I would be able to see the sites I'd been familiar with forever!  I'm glad we took the tour so these places could find their rightful place in my mind's eye, and so my adult self could readjust those childhood visions and stories.

I was captivated by the way the light struck this
building morning, noon, and evening.  At night,
the facets were lit up red as were some of
the other buildings, creating a very colorful
sky scape.