Thursday, March 23rd

Philadelphia

We left Dover and headed north to Philadelphia.   But before entering Pennsylvania, we had one stop to make in New Jersey - The Battleship New Jersey!  We took a special Firepower tour with just our family and got a 2 hours guided tour of all of the areas of the ship. 

Once we finished, we headed across the bridge to Philadelphia.  We saw the graves of Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross.  We visited Christ Church, the founding Anglican and, eventually, Episcopalian Church in America and sat in Washington's and Franklin's pews.  And of course we saw the Liberty Bell. 

And then we visited Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were both created and signed.  We also saw the rooms where the first House and Senate met.  In these same rooms, John Adams was swore in as the second President of the United States, after Washington had given his famous farewell address.

We left the building to walk up 7 blocks to Lord & Taylor's department store for a treat to cap the day.  In this store is located the largest playable pipe organ in the world.  We arrived just in time for the 5pm concert.  What a sound!  After the concert we were allowed to enter the console area and chat with the organist, a delightful man that is also the organist of Christ Church. 

You'd have to be an organ nut to appreciate the conversation we had but it was a pure delight.  David even got a commission to convert the last piece he played to an arrangement for brass quintet!   It was really a lot of fun and a moment to remember for a long time.

We're back in New Jersey for the night, and we'll see this states capitol tomorrow.