Our Quick Trip To Philly

So in part one of our "heading home for Christmas" blog I had gotten so far as Baltimore where we left the cat at the pet hotel. He did absolutely wonderful there, and they loved him so much!!
We only had a couple hour drive up to Philadelphia, and it was really a nice drive! Philly is a very interesting old city. There are parts that are absolutely breathtaking...the cobblestone streets and old historical buildings are just magnificent. We saw things we'd only read about and seen pictures of, and we are so happy we had the chance to visit.
Our first stop was Betsy Ross's house. We got to tour it and see where she did so much of her work. The home was amazing; the staircases were so different from what we are used to it really scared Eli! She is buried right outside the house, so we got to see her grave, and spend some time there wandering around.

From there we went to the cemetery where Ben Franklin is buried, and that was very neat. There are 5 signers of the Declaration of Independence buried there, and it was just the neatest experience. I think the name of the cemetery is Old Christ's Church Cemetery. Just getting to stand at his grave was something that I can't really explain...One thing Norman has really brought into my life is a love of history. Which is weird because my dad loves history; he taught history for so many years. But I guess it's just something you have to come to on your own, and I've really enjoyed learning about our nation's history. I just wish I would have been so interested when I was in my classes during school!!! From there we went to Independence Hall, which is THE place where the Declaration of Independence was written. Now this was an experience that was absolutely astounding. Not long ago we watched the John Adams series, and it was something that really made that time real to me. Watching that series and seeing the scenes that were shot during the writing of the Declaration of Independence, and then actually getting to walk into Independence Hall and see that with my own two eyes was a once in a lifetime experience. If you close your eyes you can almost hear the echoing of the raised voices as they argued over how the Dec. of Ind. should be written and what it should contain. You could imagine the stifiling heat they endured during that process, and it was just something that left me almost completely overwhelmed. Yes, I'm a sap...but what a neat, neat thing. After we were done with touring that, we were exhausted and hungry, so we headed to our hotel. And that's it for our Philly experience! More to come lata! :) Ciao!!