Philadelphia Day 2

The hotel we stayed at last trip was either booked or super expensive (I can't remember which it was), so we moved down the road to a Towne Place Suites. It had two bedrooms and a living/kitchen area, but was very small. However, it was clean and the beds were comfortable. The first night was really rough, there were people above us who were up until around midnight and I could hear them walking around. There was also some weird techno music blaring away. I have no idea where that was coming from. I was very tired, but did not get much sleep. Fortunately, these issues did not bother anyone else and the kids and Thomas all got a good night's sleep. Everyone was up around 7:45 and we planned our day. Originally, we were going to go to the Franklin Institute, but since it looked like rain the next two days, we decided we needed to make sure we saw Independence Hall. We had our free hotel breakfast and headed out.

At 9:02, just as we left the hotel, Anna's watch alarm went off. Thomas yelled to the backseat for her to turn it off (there is a point to this, but it won't be clear until I write about Day 3). We had no trouble getting into downtown and picking up tickets for the tour. First, we stopped off to see the Liberty Bell. 

There were other people waiting to take pictures, so we couldn't pose everyone. Of course, Jack stood right in front of the iconic crack. 

Kara and Luke weren't enthusiastic about doing the Independence Hall tour, but Kara decided to be a good sport when she realized it was important to Thomas and me and I gave my Luke my phone and he was content. The tour was good and we enjoyed seeing the spot where our Founding Fathers met. 

From there, we did a tour of Congress Hall, which is where the Senate and House of Representatives met for ten years while Federal City was being built (which later became Washington D.C). It was very informative and in the Senate Chambers, almost all of the furniture was the original. When they moved south, they decided to order themselves new furniture and left everything behind. It was very cool to see the rooms in their original state and to think of the precedents that began right there. 

Probably just like it looked in the 1700s, original furniture and all.

Where our first Vice President, John Adams, sat.

We walked around the visitor's center and had our lunch. Then we set off for the Franklin Institute. However, what we didn't know was that the city was setting up for a giant music festival that was set to begin the next day at Franklin Square, right next to the Franklin Institute! We got caught in road closures and a major traffic jam. Thomas finally let me and the kids out and waited alone to get through the mess. We got inside, got our tickets and enjoyed a few rooms before he was able to join us. 

They had virtual reality! Anna and Kara got to explore a shipwreck...

Complete with a giant blue whale!

This was still a favorite.

We only stayed about 3 hours, which was not long enough for the kids, but Thomas and I were anxious about all the traffic. Unfortunately, it was not to be avoided. Thanks to road closures and regular weekday traffic, it took us about an hour to drive the two miles out of the city. The kids and I entertained ourselves by making up commercials for the random items in the car. Once we got over the bridge, the traffic to our New Jersey hotel was light. We stopped at a Target and got food for dinner and ate in the comfort of our hotel room. 

It was a nice quiet night and everyone slept well.