Visiting The Pen, be it -sylvania or -itentiary, but not -tagon

Today began with us saying goodbye to Gettysburg. A short 2.5 hour bus ride later, complete with a detour through a residential area due to a car fire on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Our first stop was lunch at the Reading Terminal Market. This market is one of America's oldest public markets, being housed since 1893. We walked in and were, for a moment, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of food options. Many in the group looked for one of the many places to get an authentic Philadelphia Cheese-steak. Not only were there restaurants, but also several shops where you could by fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese, and meat (you know like a grocery store) only spread out and broken up into different stores.

After lunch we began our walking 3 hour tour (I can hear people singing the theme to Gilligan's Island as I type this) of historic Philadelphia. We were split into two groups for this tour. The tour took us to see Ben Franklin's burial site, Betsy Ross' house, Christ Church, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell. I have been to Philly 6 times, and I have always discovered something new. This year as part of our Independence Hall tour we were able to go to Congress Hall. The hall was the Original Philadelphia County Courthouse, but held the House of Representatives and Senate from 1790-1800.

The majority of the group, felt that the place we toured, The Eastern State Penitentiary, was the highlight of the day. Opened in 1829, and in operation until 1971, this former prison was the first prison designed to be like prisons we have today. Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) looks like a castle from the outside featuring 30 foot high walls and and guard towers. Originally built 2 miles outside of Philadelphia, as the city grew it grew towards ESP, and the prison today is located in the middle of a neighborhood. On the other side of one of the prison walls is an Elementary School. Al Capone served time at ESP, for having an unregistered weapon. One group toured death row (although no prisoners were executed here) another was able to see the escape tunnel (but were disappointed to discover the tunnel had been filled in. 

After that we headed to dinner a mere 20 miles from Philadelphia, but it took us an hour and 30 minutes to get there due to an accident on Northbound I-95. The group handled this set back very well. After dinner we made our way up to Newark, New Jersey (going past the Joyce Kilmer, and Grover Cleveland Service Plaza) on the infamous New Jersey Turnpike. After settling into the hotel part of the group enjoyed time at the pool, while others played cards. Wednesday is a full rich day with a tour of Manhattan and watching the Broadway show Be More Chill. We depart the hotel at 8am, and will not return to the hotel until 11pm.  

Trip Stats: 
Steps taken today - 11,609
Steps taken overall - 27,762
States visited - 06 (We added New Jersey to our count)
Movies - 03
Cups of Coffee- 05
Mr. Yeska's Cribbage record with Mr. Barbarich - 0 Wins - 5 Losses - 1 win in a doubles game.
Link to another bad song about a state we visited: Philadelphia Freedom - Elton John    

The Liberty Bell

As a History Teacher it felt necessary to take a "Bell-fie"

Looking down one of the cell blocks at Eastern State Penitentiary while on the 2nd level

One of our groups outside the bust of Ben Franklin, made with keys

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The signing room at Independence Hall. It was in the room the Declaration and Constitution was debated and signed

Our group in front of the Liberty Bell

A view of Independence Hall from the National Constitution Center