We have discovered a great website which has walking tours of Philly listed and there are 7 of them (I may have talked about them before, but Im not sure). We just print out all of the information and then take the info and the map and do the tour. It is a really wonderful way to learn alot of little known things about the city. We have really learned alot doing these tours. It has taught us things and has taken us places that we would never have known existed. The pics above are from the first walking tour. There are LOTS of old churches on the tours. The first pic is of the Church of the Holy Trinity. It was built in 1857 but its main claim to fame is that this is where "O Little Town of Bethleham" was written which you can see in the second pic. This church also had amazing stained glass windows which is what the next pic is of. Every window is made of beautiful stained glass and is incredible to see. I think that 4 of the windows were done by "Tiffany's". This is one of those. The whole architechture of this place was incredible. We also went to the civil war museum on the first tour. The pic with the guns is part of the display of weapons and ammunition that was used in the Cival War. the room was full and it was pretty amazing to think of all of the history that was in the museum. It was pretty neat. The only thing that we (the southerners) found to be questionable is that there were 3 floors of union info, but only one room of confederate info. But hey, this is the north! We did get tickeled at these people that we overheard in the museum. two women were asking the man that they were with what the war was about and for details about the war. They were pretty clueless about it and the really funny thing was the explanations that the man was giving them. he knew even less than they did, i think. Apparently, according to them, the war started because of a lovers quarrel between a northerner and a southerner (I had never heard that version). We(shane, amy and I) thought it was funny because as southerners, the civil war is one war that you do know all about and learned all throughout school. Math may be a problem, but you KNOW the civil war. The next pic is of me and Amy with civil war hats on that we found in the museum. Not really sure if we were supposed to be touching them or not, but it seemed like a good photo-op.
During the walking tours we found (which were really neat), we got to see alot of great things and really learned alot. The pics above are from the Washington square walking tour. There are 5 "squares" in Philadelphia that were originally designed by William Penn. Washington square is one of those. However, although the square is now a park, it used to be a mass burial ground for African Americans, victims of the flu pandemic, and soldiers of the Revolutionary war. There is a statue of George Washington over the tomb of the unknown soldier. There is a flame that burns continuously in front of the tomb. There is also a marker as you come into the park area which dedicates the grounds to the fallen soldiers (see pic above). This area was really sad to me. It is sad to know that so many people died and noone ever knew what happened to them. They were all just dumped in a mass grave. It is estimated that there are over 2000 soldiers buried here. The number of African Americans and pandemic victims is unknown, but the number would be really big. It was neat to learn about this area and to realize how different things were back then.
The next 3 pics are from the Rittenhouse square tour. This was a neat place because all of the printers from my nursing textbooks were started around this square. It was neat to see the place where the printing in America actually began.
We also went to the Pennsylvania Hospital which was the first hospital in the US. It is incredible. It still functions as a hospital, but you can tour the historic part. There is a library there that has books from the 1300s. It is incredible. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall back them and to have heard the conversations in that room. Ben Franklin was on the board there and there is a book of his recorded tardies and absences. For every absence, the board member had to pay $2 or so and $1 for every tardy. He had a few. The library was amazing! However, the amphitheatre surgical room was the greatest!. It is this large room at the top of the hospital with glass over the top to let light in for the surgeries. The first appendix surgery and the first gallbladder surgery were done in that room. You can see pictures of it above. They would sell tickets in the community for the surgeries and people would pay to come watch. They would all be in the same room watching and coughing and sneezing all over the patients cut open body. For anesthesia, they would hit the patient over the head with a mallet and hoped they hadnt hit too hard (seriously!). The was no sterile technique. Docs would wear their surgical coats which were taken off and hung on a rack after surgery and not washed for years at a time! They would wash their hands only AFTER ther surgery was done. I found that amazing and horrifying at the same time. sterile technique and handwashing is drilled into your head in nursing school so it is amazing to know that it was never done. No wonder so many people died in their 20s and 30s (well, especially if they were getting hit in the head with a mallot!)The next pic is where many of those people probably ended up. It is a huge graveyard with massive headstones. Some of the people have been buried there longer than the country has even existed. Its pretty amazing to think about!
Valentines Day was a great day. I had worked the night before so I slept in late. Then we went out to dinner at a REALLY nice place called Cebu. It was wonderful. We tried all sorts of new things and it was delicious! It was a five course meal. For the first course we had the "Forbidden Fruits" plate which we shared. It was this tower of raw stuff. In the picture above, you can see it in front of Shane. It had prawn (which I now know are giant shrimp), tuna tartare, caviar, raw oysters on the half shell, and clams on the half shell. It was definitly interesting. I didnt know that you are not supposed to chew the oysters and so I ended up knawing on sand. That part was gross, but the rest was great. For the next course, we both had a salad which had scallops and duck in it and was really good too. Then they brought more oysters with some kind of sauce stuff (still not sure what that was), Then I had lobster which was fantastic!! The only thing was that it was in the shell which had a face (see the picture above). It wasnt really a problem to begin with until Shane starts telling me that the poor lobster was just walking along, minding its own business, walking its kid to school when someone came along and snatched it up for me to eat. Needless to say, that did not go over well! We then had dessert and champagne. It was such a great meal.; We then went outside and were thinking about going ice skating, but it was 8 degrees outside with a -14 wind chill so we decided to pass on the skating. Instead, we walked around downtown to out bus. It was so cold, but it was so nice. It was pouring the snow and no one was out so it was almost like we had the streets to ourselves. It was romantic and really special. We took some pictures and just enjoyed the time together. Although we did enjoy it more when the wind wasnt blowing!
Here it is! The place where the Constitution was signed!!! AND Shane standing outside of independence hall in the place where JFK stood to give a speech!!
My wonderful parents came up for the week of my birthday and it was wonderful!!! It was really great to see them and spend time with them. we really enjoyed sharing our experiences of our new home with them. we really had alot of fun! We did all kinds of neat thing (which you can see from the pics above). We went to the liberty bell, Independence Hall where the Constitution was signed, Betsy Ross House, Downtown Philly, The Rocky Steps(of course!), the Italian Market, Christ Church (you can actually sit in the same pews that George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Betsy Ross sat in), The Pennsylvania Hospital (first in the country), The LOVE statue in JFK park, Elfreths Alley (the oldest continuously occupied residential street in America), and lots of other great places along the way. We also went to Bird-in-Hand in Lancaster county which is Amish country which was beautiful and alot of fun. the place we ate at was incredible! Of course, my dad could not be this close to Hershey and not go, so we also went there. We took the animated tour which was really neat and the chocolate was fabulous! They also got to experience the joy of a Philly bus ride and a Philly Cheesesteak and a Philly soft pretzel while they were here.
I had the best birthday ever. For my bday, they took me out to eat at a really fabulous Itialian restaraunt called Portofino. It was delicious! Then we went to watch ANNIE on Broadway!!!!!! It was so awesome! I felt like a little girl. I was so excited. It was a perfect birthday! I cant wait to get my pictures back from the show!!! It was awesome! I was sad for them to go home. Having them here made me miss them even more, but I will be seeing them (and many of you) soon so I am really excited about that!
Here are a few pics of Shane, Ted, Amy, and I just hanging out in Philly (Julie had to work that night). Because we have such little time left together, we are trying to spend as much time as possible together. I will really miss them when I am gone. We have all became good friends.
These last pics are pics that I made when Shane and I went for a walk in Fairmount park. There are several that I am going to make prints of and blowup to hang in the house. I am having alot of fun with photography now that I have time to do it. I was really pleased at how they turned out especially the angel one. It brings to mind the song "Midnight Cry" and Jesus "stepping out on a cloud to call his children". I just really love the pic o I will leave you on that happy note. Miss you guys and hope that everyone is well! I cant wait to be home and see everyone in a few weeks.
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