our trip to philly, part 2!!
sunday, april 20th
we had breakfast at marathon grill which wasn't so bad.
it would be nice to go back to dutch eating place but it's closed on sundays.
after breakfast, we went to mutter museum.
it's a medical museum that has a collection of medical oddities, anatomical and
pathological specimens, wax models, and antique medical equipment.
it was veryyyy interesting but fortunately for all of you, the museum did not allow any photography inside!
i don't think i would have taken any picture anyway.
on the way to mutter museum, we walked past this store and i thought i saw something in the window.
good enough it was a cat! a cute one!
*meow*
after the visiting mutter museum, we went to LOVE park.
the actual name is JKF plaza and the park is nicknamed LOVE Park
for Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture (a couple of pictures later) which overlooks the plaza.
philly's city hall
city hall tower...on the top of the tower is the statue of william penn,
the founder of the province of pennsylvania.
do you remember seeing this stamp before?
it was released in 1973.
the LOVE sculpture along with the water fountain.
that's me!!
after visiting the LOVE park, we went back to the reading terminal market for lunch.
making cheesesteaks, yum!
my cheesesteak! taken with my blackberry.
to be honest, i have had a better cheesesteak than this one.
hey rick, sorry! 
we were told of a couple of cheesesteak places to try on south street and close by but they were out of the way
and we did not have the time to go to one of them. next time!
oh my gosh! FINALLYYYY!!!
with me being from pennsylvania, there's no excuse for me not to see the liberty bell
before i meet my maker many, many years later, heh.
you can see peter on the right...he's checking out the independence hall across street.
my sweet husband with the bell!
ahh, there's the famous crack!
independence hall
taking a break and listening to the music
i remember i was starting to feel a little impatient with him for resting too long...why??
i knew that starbucks was only a couple of blocks away and i really wanted my iced chai tea latte!!
i kept on asking peter if he was ready to get moving again, heh!
eventually we did go to starbucks to get me my drink, yum!
we saw this on the sidewalk and i thought it was cool how they said it.
the franklin fountain
we knew about this place before coming to philly and wanted to check it out.
it's a cute old-fashioned ice cream parlor and soda fountain run by two brothers.
phosphates??
i was like, "phosphates?? it's a chemistry term...it sounds scary?"
it turns out that the meaning of this word is...
a soda fountain drink made by blending carbonated water with flavored syrup.
oh, okayyyyy.
i had the hydrox ice cream on the cone and peter had the chocolate milkshake, i think (maybe malt?).
cute little table and chairs for the young kiddies!
ahh, according to benjamin franklin, i guess if you are patient, you will get what you want.
so that means if i'm patient, i will get to go to paris someday soon??
we were walking past this building and i noticed that we kept on disappearing
and appearing so i thought it'd be neat to videotape myself.
monday, april 21st
our last day in philly!
wow, the weekend went by so quickly but fortunately we live about an hour and half
from philly so we can go back for a day or so if we're in the mood for something.
*for peter...marrakesh!! heh!*
this is where we stayed at, the latham hotel. it's a nice place right in the central city which was neat!
but the mattress was awful! we could have asked for a different room but
i thought it was too much trouble so we decided to stick with it.
if we were staying for a week, i'm sure we would have requested the change.
ooooooh!! eastern state penitentiary!!
i had been wanting to go there for a couple of years.
i know some people probably think that i'm nuts for wanting to visit an old prison, oh well.
i always find old, rundown places interesting for some reason.
at first peter did not want to go but he gave in because he knew it was where i really wanted to go.
what a thoughtful husband i have!
oh oh oh! something funny to share...
i went back to work the next day and i walked up to one of my assistants.
i grabbed a piece of paper that was close by and started to write.
i wrote to her:
"i was in the jail yesterday"
charlena had her eyes wide open and put her hand to her chest then said "oh my god!"
of course i had to tell her that i was just visiting an old prison that closed in 1972
and is now open as a historic landmark.
she started to laugh and was glad to hear that i did not get into trouble!
opened in 1829, eastern state is considered to be the world's first true penitentiary.
it followed the pennsylvania system (aka separate system) where the prisoners were being kept separated from each other.
it's also called solitary confinement. scary!
in the diagram below, you can see that there are seven cellblocks spread like the spokes of a wheel.
interesting story...in 1924, the governor of pennsylvania had sentenced pep, the dog that murdered
the governor's wife's cat to a life sentence at eastern state penitentiary.
not sure who owned pep? no idea if pep actually stayed in a cell?
30-foot tall, 12-foot thick wall
entrance to the three of the seven cellblocks
doing his business, not!! i asked him to do that for the sake of picture-taking.
the hospital wing
notice the wooden frames? the place is really falling apart!
catwalks
can you find the cats?!?
you can read more about the cats at :
http://www.easternstate.org/exhibits/brenner.php
cellblock 15 as known as death row
notice the last person? he was a guard first then became an inmate later,
interesting...you would think he would want to stay away from the place after he left as the guard?
aha, found another ghost cat!
guess who resided in this cell?!?
i wonder if that's a body under the bed?? wouldn't be surprised...
al "scarface" capone!!
an italian american gangster
he spent 10 months at eastern state penitentiary for possession of a concealed weapon.
of course he had the privileges...i would be scared out of my wits being in the same place with him!
outside to the inmate's private exercise yard
oh no!! poor tammy!
oh, don't worry!! as you can see, i'm smiling!!
i hope you enjoyed reading this!! i know it's a long post, sorry about that!
thanks so much for your time!!
