Another Gift (Part 3)......Independence Hall & Ben Franklin

Just behind the Liberty Bell Center in Philadelphia is Independence Hall.
It's right there.
You can't miss it.
You have to see it if you go to see the Liberty Bell!

(Can you see that statue of George Washington right in front of that white door?

Yeah, interesting story to come about that.)

  

The Old City Hall building is attached to the Independence Hall to the left.

Inside here we see where the Supreme Court met as our country was just setting up its laws.

So right about here on our tour, I began to experience some excruciating pain.

I recognized it right away.

My stupid hernia started acting up.

Right HERE!!

I was pretty annoyed that it would choose this moment to rear it's ugly head,

but I chalked it up to the long walk I had to take lugging my heavy bags just before my flight 

two days previous.

That's how this thing works for me.

Do something weird, but I don't feel the consequences for 2 or 3 days.

I don't get that.

Anyway, the only thing I could think of to do right there in front of Independence Hall was find someplace to lay down.

So, I had to fess up to my walking buddies, and they very graciously helped me find a place

to lay down on a bench.

Almost immediately, we heard the loud sirens of an emergency vehicle so we started to look around for what was going on.

Can you see the blue and red lights on that black car in the picture below?

It was some kind of unmarked police vehicle.

It pulls up right in front of Independence Hall along with a large white van 

and another vehicle behind it.

Out popped what looked like security guards to me, and

I was waiting for Mitt Romney to step out of that vehicle.

We never did see who these important people were

but they crowded around the statue of George Washington for a picture and left soon after.

After about 30 minutes of laying on that bench in the cold wind,

I started feeling much better.

Some cute little birds were flitting quite close to us, so I started throwing out some crushed

crackers and banana chips.

They just swarmed that stuff and we had the best time laughing at them.

It was time to move on, and just a couple blocks up 5th Street we found

the Free Quaker Meeting House.

(This man was playing the part of a Quaker in 1843, so he asked that we follow the protocol of photography

from that time period.....no smiling!)

Right across the street from this site was the burial place of

Benjamin Franklin.

Random bust of Ben Franklin.

He is everywhere in Philadelphia.

Quite surreal standing right at the spot where such a colorful and important character

in the history of our country was laid to rest.

It's quite profound to walk where this man presumably walked during some of his most influential and 

inventive times of life!

**Join me tomorrow for the final leg of our walking tour**

Another gift (Part 2).....Seeing the Liberty Bell

After spending time exploring the Reading Terminal Market, we decided to head out to revisit the Liberty Bell.

We walked the 6 blocks to Market and 6th street, and saw some amazing sites along the way.

I zoomed in on this statue of William Penn standing atop the Philadelphia City Hall.  

My cousin told me that the year the Philadelphia Phillies were in the World Series, some crazy person got the job of getting up there and putting a Phillies jersey on this statue!!

You can't say the people of Philly don't love their teams!!

I really wanted to take one of these tours, but I couldn't talk any of my walking buddies into this!

Cllick on the picture below to zoom in better.  Here you are at the corner of Market and 6th and can see the doomed top of Independence Hall just behind the street light.  The Liberty Bell site is just in front of that under the shelter.

This was difficult to figure out.  The signage around it was very obscure, and I ended up asking the local police officer standing there what we were looking at.

I figured it was "The foundation of America,"

but in reality it was the foundation of the first President's house.

Lots of things to read around this area, but this was one of the most profound to me.

Click on it to be able to read it better.

Lots of history in this area about slavery and the road to freedom in Philadelphia.

After waiting in a lengthy line which involved some security checks,

we made it in.

When I was a little girl in the 70's and early 80's, I remember the Liberty Bell being in an open air shelter.

Outside.

Not so anymore.

It has been moved inside and you can't touch it anymore.

Lots of tourists.  This group of Asian tourists were very enthusiastic about seeing

The Liberty Bell.

**More about Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross to come soon!**

Another gift (Part 1)......Reading Terminal Market

We honored my grandmother's amazing life on that Friday.
That evening, while relaxing together in my hotel room, my sister said, "So, do you want to go downtown tomorrow?"
I JUMPED at that.
It had been decades since I had been to downtown Philadelphia, and since then I've taught an 18th century unit study to my children in which we learned much about the importance of this city as our country was just laying its foundations.
I was thrilled to get the chance to go back and revisit some of those historic landmarks.....and with my sister!

Oh, the fun and laughing we had!
We jumped the free shuttle from my hotel to the nearby little train station, and off we went.
Can I just say that public transportation in these large cities is AH-mazing?!

I loved the architecture of this little station.

My sister and my cousin (doing his best George Costanza impersonation) trying to keep warm while waiting for the train.

And it's true.

That Philadelphia is "The City of Brotherly Love."

We weren't exactly sure where we needed to get off the train (since it made a dozen stops on that line), but a very nice couple sitting next to us took it upon themselves to guide us in the right direction.

We were so grateful as it would have taken us a long time trying to figure out where we needed to go!

This is what we saw when we walked out of our stop.

At the corner of Market and 12th.

We were right around the corner from the famous Reading Terminal Market, and my cousin insisted we see that.

WOW!!  Amazingness!!

If you have the chance to visit Philly, you must find your way there!

It's like an enormous indoor food court/farmer's market with counters and stands of all kinds!

We had just the best time wandering around and taking in the atmosphere and sounds of this place!

Phenomenal Candy Counter

(Seriously?!?  Who would eat this?  Wait....don't answer that.)

I am not a fish lover.  This counter grossed me out!

I LOVED seeing all the Amish stands.  Such innovative, hard working people.

I was told they are all from Lancaster County (about 1.5 hours or more away).

They ride together in a van driven by someone else.

Can't exactly park a horse and buggy on the street of downtown Philly.

Was excited to try this out........

 ........except it was closed!  Go figure!!

 .......so I opted for THIS for lunch instead....

Me and my sis!

(Notice the piano guy over my left shoulder who was jazzing things up a bit?

Awesome!!)

***More of this great day tomorrow**

Saying good-bye

My grandmother passed away 2 weeks ago.

You may remember my stories from the extraordinary gift I received to visit her this past July when she had gotten very ill but was recovering quite nicely.
You can read those stories by clicking here.

About 2 weeks prior to her death, she was unexpectedly diagnosed with colon cancer.
Initially, we thought this was a new condition for her.
But the more we thought about it, we realized that it may have been with her for much longer than anyone realized and may have been a major contributing factor to her severe infection near her 96th birthday in June which landed her in the hospital and eventually a lengthy rehab stay.
But she recovered from that.
And was back in her apartment, although now living with a full-time aide.
Soon after her diagnoses though, they discovered she was quite anemic, which led to shortness of breath.
On the morning of the day she met Jesus, she didn't wake up at her regular time.
Her aide went to check on her and discovered her having great difficulty to breath.
Her aide propped her up in an effort to help her, but it didn't help.
She called 911, and by the time the EMT's arrived, my grandmother went into cardiac arrest.
The EMT's were able to revive her, but when she arrived at the hospital, she was put on a ventilator.
Thankfully, her family was aware of her wishes as stated in her living will, and after many consultations with the doctors, it was decided to honor her wishes and remove her from life support.

Such a bitter-sweet day for us.
When we got word of the cancer, we prayed she would not have to suffer through months of chemo.
We asked the Lord to spare her from unbearable pain.
God answered our prayers in such a kind, loving way.
She left us very quietly, with much dignity, with grace.
It was Victory Day for her!!
I hated knowing she was no longer with us, but the overwhelming peace and gladness for her knowing she was simply "absent from [her] body, and [now] present with the Lord."  2 Corinthians 5:8

When I got word of this, I immediately spoke with the Lord and asked him if I could go to the funeral.
I was completely at peace about being unable to attend the funeral as I had just visited her in July and was so content with that awesome gift!

But I left it in the hands of the Lord.
She met Jesus on Wednesday, and decisions were being made as to whether her funeral would be the following Saturday or the next Monday.
Neither day worked out especially because of a little thing known as Hurricane Sandy.
She slammed into the East Coast on the day we were hoping for a funeral.
So everything got postponed to the following Friday.
Which gave me more time to pray and trust.
And AGAIN, yes, again, God provided.
All of it....and more.
I got to go.

What an awesome God I serve.
And not just because He chose to answer my prayers in the way I was hoping for.
But because He allowed the opportunity to visit with family I hadn't seen in over 14 years as well.
I couldn't believe it......though I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was.
Sorrow was turning to real joy!!

Women's Wellness Wednesday: How do you treat illness?

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Women's Wellness Wednesday: What's on YOUR plate?

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