Independence Hall: No Tickets required!

For the past few years, getting a tour of Independence Hall in Philadelphia could be problematic for some. If you're someone who planned out your trip ahead of time and made a reservation through the National Park's website, you wouldn't run into any issues. However, if you were someone who decided to just head over to the building at noon one day, most of the time, you'd find that tickets were "sold out" by the time you got there. While it has always been free to go on the tour, a ticket was needed since the number of spaces per day was limited.

Now, for January and February of this year, Independence National Park is going to give a ticket-less system a chance. Tours are going to be available every day from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., running every half hour (every 20 minutes on weekends). All you need to do is line up at 5th and Chestnut Streets.

You should be aware though that waiting until late in the day may result in waiting in a long queue. I'd still suggest getting there near the opening time so that you aren't stuck in line for a good chunk of your day just waiting around. This is an excellent tour that goes into detail about one of the most significant buildings in American history and I'd highly recommend it to any American with any interest in our country's history.

Independence National Park

Sunday was our first Philly excursion together (not counting that Tesla concert last year!). We had absolutely perfect weather for it and spent the majority of the day in Independence National Park.

The ride in went quite smooth and we were quickly able to find a parking lot for $10 for all day parking on 8th and Market...not too bad (although we later walked by one further down 8th Street that said $8...oh well).

First stop on the list was the Independence Visitor's Center, where we needed to go pick our Independence Hall tickets for later in the day. By the time we got there (around 10 a.m.), they already were out of tickets, so it's a good thing we put in for advance reservations earlier in the week.

They even had a Philly Phanatic statue there for us to get a picture with...a nice little bonus.

From here, right across the street is the Liberty Bell Center. Some interesting things were learned about the bell here. For instance, when the British were coming to Philly, the bell was taken out of the city and hidden in Allentown for a while (and for all the years I lived up in that area during college, I never knew that!).

Apparently after bell has also toured America a few times, but it's been over 100 years since that's happened. Who knows, maybe they'll do it again some time. The during the Woman's Suffrage movement, they even made their own copy of the Liberty Bell as a symbol for what they stood for. After looking through all this history, we finally got to the bell and got a great snapshot of us in front.

The next stop on our journey was to the American Philosophical Society, where they had a special Darwin exhibit. I'm definitely a big fan of his and I hope to one day get to the Galapagos Islands where he started with his evolution theories.

Following this, our stomachs demanded lunch, so we walked over to the Bourse Building, which apparently was the first stock exchange in America.

Today though, it's mostly a touristy stop for cheaply priced food (damn good cheesesteak there!).

With our hunger satisfied, off we went to the Christ Church Burial Ground. Now, while most cemeteries with their headstones un-readable after centuries of wear and tear would be pretty boring, this one was actually pretty interesting. It is the final resting place of Ben Franklin, where many stop to throw pennies on his tombstone ("A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned").

Other interesting tidbits were how they had this system of burying that they buried several people on top of one another. Apparently there is also only one grave spot left open and a woman already has it reserved with her tombstone waiting for her. Creepy!

This was followed up with a quick visit to the Free Quakers Meeting House. There was a Quaker there who spoke to us about some of the history in the area...somewhat interesting, but nothing too terribly exciting.

We then explored some of the local parks in the area before finally heading to Independence Hall. Here, we got a tour of the building and learned some of its history. Since this is basically the building where our country was founded (It's where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed), it should be a trip for all Americans, especially those visiting historic Philadelphia.

Back in the day, this building was considered to be enormous, but by today's standards, not really.

Following this, we decided to finish up our trip with a Ride The Ducks tour. If you're ever in Philly and hear loud quacking noises, it's probably from this tour.

We boarded a bus, which doubles as a boat, and took a drive around Philly from Independence National Park to Society Hill to South Street to Penn's Landing. From there, our bus dove into the Delaware River and gave us a tour of the harbor area. It was pretty enjoyable and the two tour guides were quite entertaining. Definitely worth the price of admission!

To finish off our day, we had an outdoor dinner at Gigi's Restaurant and Lounge, which was quite tasteful.

Definitely check it out if you're in the area on Market between 3rd and 4th streets.

Our plans for Philly for next Sunday, if the weather stays nice, is the Philadelphia Zoo!