Tuesday started with a nice continental breakfast at the hotel. Jane and Andrew got up early each day to get first pick of the 6am breakfast. Aaron only got the last 10 min of breakfast this day because he went out early to get our tour tickets. Unfortunately we drove to the other side of the city this day and barely found parking which ended up getting us a parking ticket since we had both read the sign wrong-talk about a confusing sign! Continuing with the happy parts of the day tho...above is my favorite building...city hall. It's ornate architecture was gorgeous-definitely the most striking building as we walked around the city. And to make it even cooler, it had this lovely, public walkway through it.
We also spent time checking out Reading Market, pronounced Redding. Aaron kept saying it the wrong way and the locals kept correcting him-it was funny. Lots of yummy vendors and things to see. Our favorite finds were Asian pears for fifty cents each (I think we bought 12) and of course...more chicken on a stick! We had so much fun exploring this place that we almost didn't get back in time to Independence Hall for our 11:30 tour. In fact Aaron dropped us off and had to park in a drug store parking lot several blocks away, running until he made it in as they were closing the door-whew!!
It was hard to imagine that we were in the very building where all these great founding fathers drafted our inspired Declaration of Independence. Below was the courtroom side.
And here we are in "the most important room in America". The chair in the very back, middle is the only piece they know for sure is original. And a very awesome chair it is, because it is the one where George Washington sat! The carving on the top of the chair is a rising sun which reminded me of the sun stones on the Nauvoo Temple-very symbolic.
Following our tour, we did a bit of detective working figuring out where that drugstore was that Aaron left the van at. But once we found it we were off to the famed 'Geno's' and 'Pat's' to do a little taste testing of the best Philly cheese steaks in Philly. We unanimously voted for Geno's but Pat's did have this cool brick, so now Andrew has officially stood where Rocky once did.
Back across the street from the Mint was the church where Benjamin Franklin was burried-right next to the fence in fact!!
We also took Porter for a quick look at the stadium. It's so fun to have a happy teenager (below) on family outings (insert big, cheesy grin).
After Aaron's Chinese haircut, we left the kids with pizza and the TV, and he and I went to check out a restaurant we had seen highlighted on a nutrition documentary series. It was called 'Vedge' because their dishes showcase vegetables as stand alone meals. We were quite impressed with the food but we should have made reservations so we didn't have to sit at the bar. Live and learn. Aaron had a wood roasted carrot with hummus on pumpernickel and I had a mushroom dish with tomato and basil. We would definitely go back despite the fact that we didn't recognize half the vegetables on the menu.
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