Well today was a full day of site seeing the birthplace of America, Philadelphia! After riding across the Benjamin Frankin Bridge into Philadelphia, we rode into the city and found a place to park right near Independence Hall National Park Service. We toured The New Hall- which was the location of the War department offices from 1791-92;during that time, this was the Pentagon of today. We toured Carpenter's Hall where the First Continental Congress met in 1774 to decide a course of action for their grievances against Great Britain was being ignored. To walk through this hall was just an amazing feeling. We took some pictures of the two halls and even some of the construction was exposed to be able to see how it was built in the 1700's.
Then we walked down the colonial street and saw The Philadelphia Bank, the first bank in Philadelphia. Then We toured the Second Bank of Philadelphia which is now an art gallery with paintings from the late 1700's to early 1800's. It became the Old Custom House of Philadelphia after President Jackson prevented the recharter of the bank in 1836. We walked pass the Signer Statue and the Old City hall which the Supreme Court met in from 1791- 1800. We then walked into the gates of Independence Hall; this building was built between 1732 and 1756 as the State House of the Colony of Pennsylvania. Here is where the Declaration of Independence was developed and signed On July 4, 1776 and the Constitution, in 1787. This was another amazing site to visit; to actually be in the very same building where the framers of the Declaration and the Constitution stood over 230 years ago!
After we left Independence Hall we walked next door into the Congress Hall Capitol United States. In this building sat the first Senate and House of Representatives and is where George Washington was inaugurated as President in 1793 and John Adams in 1797. There was alot of history in these buildings and you could sense a feeling of pride as an American when you walked through these buildings!
We then went to see the Liberty Bell and as we walked into the center we stopped to see where the President's house once stood. It looked like they are going to reconstruct the home, as there was a lot of construction going on there. We then walked into the center and read up about the Liberty Bell and we took pictures of the bell and went to get lunch. Now we were told that while we were in Philadelphia, we needed to eat a real Philly Cheese Steak! So we found a vendor (Mama's Cheese Steaks) and it was GOOD!!!!
We went back to our motors and went to our next stop, St. Peter The Apostle Church, where the Shrine of St.John Neumann is located. The shrine, are you ready for this...is St. John Neumann's body lay in state at the alter of the church. Neumann was the Bishop of Philadelphia who died in 1863 of a heart attack at the age of 48 and he was buried and later was sainted for his good works in building schools and churches for the people during his life. Most catholic churches have relics of Saints; relics are a body parts of saints. St. Peter Apostle Church has the entire body of St. Neumann! We took some pictures and toured the mini museum in the church before the mass started at 5:30pm. The church is still very active and holds mass there. Mike asked me if the body was real and I told him yes. Me being a licensed mortician, I know that they did some touch up work on the Saint's face to make him presentable for public viewing for eternity. He was exhumed in 1964 and his body was in remarkable condition. So they decided to place his body in the church as an alter for all to come and pray. This was an interesting site to visit; how many people would have known this was in Philadelphia?
We left Philadelphia to head toward Gettysburg; and we are staying in Gaithersburg, Maryland. We will depart Gaithersburg and ride to Gettysburg and then to Washington DC, our nation's capital!
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