Philadelphia & Lancaster County

With the Martin Luther King Jr holiday giving us a long weekend, we set off on the roughly 2.5 hour drive to Philadelphia on Saturday 19 January 2008.

After $22 in tolls (welcome to America!), we arrived around lunchtime so we went straight to the Reading Terminal Markets. Despite Donna's research describing these as food and craft markets, there was little more than food on offer. (I have just pointed out that a check of the merchants on their website would have indicated this but apparently it isn't as obvious as I make it out to be ...) So after a good souvlaki, we had a quick visit to the visitors centre before checking in at our hotel. The reviews on the Comfort Inn Historic Quarter were a bit mixed but generally positive so we went for it due to the central location and the cheap rate. It was sandwiched in under the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and a multi level freeway but was pretty ok. The road and train noise was drowned out by the noisy air conditioning so wasn't much different noise wise to trying to sleep on a train. The included breakfast each morning was very good with lots to choose from, including my US favourite of the cook it yourself waffles (2 minutes from batter to yum!)

We braved the cold to walk back into the city past Penn's Landing. Finding ourselves walking past Christ Church, we headed in for a look just in time to catch a tour that was starting. While the nearly 300 year old church (312 years of a church on the site) was full of scaffolding inside (the early days of a 27 year restoration) the guide was full of history about the building, the church and its history. Like the fact the church has clear glass panes with the idea of not separating what happens inside and outside the building rather than the more traditional stained glass. Was a good starting point to learning about the area.

We headed off to The Liberty Bell Centre to see the famous bell. Was already aware that the bell was cracked and that I couldn't ring it so I wasn't too disappointed. :-) Was getting late so we had a bit of a wander around a couple of touristy stores on the way to seeing Benjamin Franklin's gravesite. The cemetery was closed over winter so had to settle for looking through the fence, luckily they planned ahead for tourists with Mr and Mrs Franklin buried right on the corner of the cemetery. The kids had to put a penny on the grave, we didn't understand why the pennies were being placed on the grave and from this site, it seems that others don't either. Finished our wandering around at the National Constitution Centre. However decided the value wasn't there for the $40 it was going to cost to go inside so we didn't get past the gift store. After a quick dinner we were glad to get back to the hotel and out of the cold.

We woke on Sunday morning to a sunny morning with temperatures again around -8 but down to -18 with wind chill factored in. Needless to say we didn't rush out. After our leisurely breakfast, we hitched a ride with the hotel's courtesy bus to Independence Hall. It was here that the Declaration of Independence was adopted and the Constitution of the United States was debated, drafted and signed. Due to the cold, we weren't made to wait outside for a tour but were allowed to wander through, with the National Park rangers in each room talking about features of the room and what happened there. The Greek revival style building next door was originally the Customs House, then home to the Second Bank of the United States but now houses the "People of Independence" exhibit. This includes 185 paintings of Colonial and Federal leaders, military officers, explorers and scientists, including many by Charles Willson Peale. The National Liberty Museum was intended as the highlight of the day for the kids. One of the attractions for us was the Dale Chihuly glassworks. (He did some glass installations at Floriade in 1999.) The museum 'was created to celebrate our nation's heritage of freedom and the wonderful diverse society it has produced'.

After lunch, we visited the Betsy Ross House. Betsy Ross is famous for claims that she sewed the first United States flag. Whether the story is true or not, today the story gets the tourists through a house that she may or may not have lived in! Our last visit for the day was to the Rodin Museum which houses the largest collection of his works outside Paris. While warm inside, it was so bitterly cold outside that we were again glad to get back to the hotel. Although our GPS let us down and steered me over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge overlooking our hotel, costing us about 20 minutes longer to get home and the ignominy of having to pay a $3 toll to get back over the river! Dinner at Dave & Busters just up the road from our hotel, although still used the courtesy bus to get there to avoid the cold.

Not quite as cold on Monday morning (it is all relative!) when we checked out of our hotel and drove to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I ensured that the kids were up on their history before we went there with YouTube obliging with a training montage of Rocky finishing with his famous run up the Museum's steps. Obligatory photos with the Rocky statue and the run up the steps followed! Some of the exhibitions we were interested in at the Museum were in another annexe and we didn't have time to do it justice. Ensured that Kieren saw their Arms and Armor collection which he went around with a big smile on his face and just kept saying 'awesome'! Some of the exhibits were even in the same colours as some of his knights and he was particularly impressed with some boy armour. They also did some drawings for the museum as part of their Martin Luther King Jr activities.

Drove to Intercourse in Lancaster County on Monday afternoon where we stayed at the Best Western and had very good and very cheap meals for both dinner and breakfast the next morning. With the season and cold, some of the shops we wanted to visit were closed but Donna did all the quilting related shops that afternoon.

On Tuesday morning we did similar shop visiting in Bird in Hand on the way to Lancaster. Last time we were up here the Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum was being renovated so we stopped off to look at their range of Amish quilts and a current rug exhibition, while the kids played in the building's original bank safe. Were tempted to lock them in there but thought better of it ...

Forecast was for snow settling and ice storms so we were a bit apprehensive when light hail started falling and settling while we were in the Museum. However this melted by the time we left. The drive home was uneventful with just a few drops of rain. The forecast proved once again to be overly pessimistic, something that's becoming a bit of a common feature of the storm warnings here.

Malcolm

National Aquarium in Baltimore

Having been accused by Kieren of taking him only to boring places like the National Gallery and Annapolis over the holiday period, we decided that a visit to the National Aquarium in Baltimore was in order for Monday 31 December 2007.

Wikipedia summarises it as 'The National Aquarium in Baltimore is a public aquarium located at 501 E Pratt St. in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was opened in 1981 and was constructed during the urban renewal period of Baltimore. The aquarium has an annual attendance of 1.6 million to see its collection of 10,500 specimens of 560 different species. Particular attractions include the dolphin display, rooftop rainforest, and central ray pool, and multiple-story shark tanks'. There was also an Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes display on.

Cost us pretty much $100 for the four of us to get in on the 'Total Experience Package'. Just found that City Paper rated the Aquarium the 'Best Over Priced Destination for Families' in 2006! And while we did have a very good day, it did seem pretty much overpriced by any measure. The typical 'souvenir' shops inside were similarly overpriced although at least the food seemed more reasonable.

Was expecting just the usual aquarium which most of it was. It is a very confusing layout inside the buildings. There's many different levels and a one way series of escalators etc. Working out how to get from one area to another wasn't easy - a better designed map would help but you shouldn't need a complex map to get around a purpose built tourism facility!

We were there by around 11ish (and had sorted out parking better than last time but still cost us $15 after the Aquarium visitors' $3 discount). So it was easy to get around at first but by the afternoon it was hopeless. Too many people to see the exhibits which tend to be on the smaller size, reflecting the frogs etc on display.

The kids had three highlights:

• The dolphin show which was pretty short but was fairly well done.
• The 4D film of The Polar Express. The movie was compressed into less than 20 minutes but with added sights, sounds and smells. 'The Aquarium’s 4D Immersion theater combines the visual drama of a 3D film with a variety of sensory effects, which are built into theater seats and the theater environment. Most films are transformed into 20-minute or less experiences and will virtually bring on-screen images to life with added effects such as: water mist, wind, a neck air blast, snow, bubbles, steam, leg ticklers, scents, enhanced floor lighting, and seat vibrations!'
• The touching area of seashells etc.

Kieren also spent the remainder of his Christmas money on a jeep with inflatable dinghy on the roof plus a diving bell with lots of little parts that he just had to had. So much so that Donna left her coffee at Barnes and Noble afterwards to take him back to get it!

Malcolm