Philadelphia 11.10

Day 9 - Philadelphia - Cloudy Near 65:

Day one in Philly. The day began with Ben heading out for a run and I headed to the hotel gym. Ben ran to the famous Rocky Steps!!! He ran up them and down them looking for the Rocky statue which he was not able to find...we're going to head back tomorrow to see what we can find. Once we both finished our workouts we ventured into the city.

Our first stop was the US Mint. It was clearly a slow money making day as it wasn't until the end of our self guided tour that we actually started to see THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of pennies being created. We were also able to see some special medals being created as the Philadelphia Mint makes many of the special medals for the US. We learned a great deal about money making. For example: It take 60 tons of pressure to create a quarter, 30 tons to make a penny, and 46 to make a dime. The Philadelphia branch also makes almost all of the pennies in the US. Lastly, at one point it took 3 years to make 1 million coins at the mint...today it takes 30 minutes.

From the Mint we headed over to the Federal Reserve building. Here we went through the Money In Motion exhibit. At any one time the Philadelphia Reserve has between 6-7 billion dollars in the vaults below where we were standing. Something interesting, the average one dollar bill stays in circulation an average of 21 months while the hundred dollar bill lasts 8 years. This begs the question what happens to the other dollar bills? They are shredded. The Reserve shreds on average one hundred million dollars each week! As a parting gift we were each given $100 dollars in shredded money. We considered gluing it back together but it just wasn't working!!

From there we headed over to see Benjamin Franklin's final resting place. He along with four other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried within steps of where they signed that important document! Next we went to Independence Hall we were able to tour the actual building where both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were signed. An interesting note, George Washington did not sign the Declaration of Independence because he was busy with the war at the time (think Valley Forge). Again as with Valley Forge, knowing that you are standing in a place where the great men who created our country truly stood is an awe inspiring feeling. We then headed over to the Liberty Bell. As you head toward the bell you are able to see the history of the bell and many neat artifacts from the years of history that have followed the bell.

Another side note you may have noticed a picture from Valley Forge that looked like the Liberty Bell. That was actually the Justice Bell. It is an exact replica of the Liberty Bell with the world Justice added. This traveled the country during the time that women were trying to get the right to vote. The bell never rang until the day women were granted that right.

After the bell we headed toward Franklin Court. We got side tracked for a minute at Carpenter's Hall where the US Congress first met. It was here that the first documents ever created by a US Congress were signed into law. We got back on track and took a tour of Benjamin Franklin's property. It is a neat sight because they have plexi-glass that looks down into the ground where you can see pieces of the original foundation of his home.

Our second to last stop of the day was the National Park Services Living History Center. Here you are able to see archeologist working on piecing together history. They have tons of small pieces of dishes/glasses/furntiure that they are putting back together. We learned that they do not generally dig for the sake of digging but rather they dig when new construction is beginning. Most of what they have are from a dig done when they were building the Constitution Center.

We ended our day at Washington Square viewing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. While this is different from the one in Arlington, it is in memory of all the men buried below the park who fought during the Revolutionary War.

After Washington Square we made our way back to hotel room for a little rest before we headed out for dinner. We managed to find a nice sports bar where we ate and watched the Bruins game!!

We are now back in our room where we are getting ready for sleep!!!! Tomorrow who knows...

Thanks for reading!
Love.