philly

Okay, this post has a lot of pictures like promised. i apologize for how this is going to lay out on the screen!

I went to Philly for about 36 hours on Friday/Saturday. on friday i had a meeting, but i decided to stay through part of saturday to see a little of the town. there is SO much history in this town!

to the left is the first courthouse of the united states...the home of the judicial branch. below that is a picture of independence hall. all three branches resided there.


the horribly awkward self-portrait below, has the "ghost house" of Ben Franklin. basically, it is exactly where it was before and the white posts are the outline. on the floor, it outlines where every part of the house was located.


there was also an underground museum to ben franklin...he was a creative man! i swear he created the first lazy boy!

the sepia picture is an attempt to be artsy....this is the city hall...gorgeous building!

i'm pictured with the statue to the right....this is richard dobbs. he was one of the signers of the constituation. i took a picture of him because he was only 29. can you believe that? the majority of the men that were involved were in their 30's and 40's. there were a few in their 50's and then ben franklin who was 81. young people can do anything!

everyone needs to see some bloomers in philly!

the liberty bell.....a must see.

Observations in Philly (these are completely random and they might not really be true reflections of the city):

1. i noticed a lot of smokers---i commented on this to my driver on the way to the airport and, of course, he is a smoker. it was actually a good conversation!

2. it is extremely diverse...really like no other city i have seen.

3. there are a lot of homeless people around at all areas of the day and night.

4. there are great parks at every turn.

5. it seemed pretty dirty.

6. i loved being able to walk everywhere again.....being in a REAL city (aka Houston doesn't count)

7. history is EVERYWHERE!

8. the Wall of Freedom at the Constituation Center was interesting...and sobering. people can place sticky notes of what you would do with freedom. the sobering part was that a lot of people wrote really selfish things.....power, control the world, make money, get things. i decided to write "give generously". it isn't profound, but i think it would be a step in the right direction!