Day 6 - The Philadelphia Pass

Wednesday July 5, 2017

I contacted my cousin's wife a couple of weeks ago regarding the Philly pass.  She did research, and actually called places in Philly thinking that the pass was 'too good to be true'. Found out it was not.  Only after ordering the passes for a single day, I found that (in perfect Philly style) all the museums and 40 attractions we had free access to were only open from 10-5 daily. 

I know we needed a plan, which I worked diligently a few days before.  Grab the on off bus, and get in as many cool sights as you can. We had knocked out the ten mile walking part the day before with fireworks and staples like the Liberty Bell and Ben's grave, so today we were gonna get this done!

Tourbus stop, with a side of plumber crack

I had a little trouble finding the stop.  I asked the hotel concierge folk about the on off bus and where the stops are; they said the bus would stop in front of the hotel at 9:30 but I got the feeling they were thinking of the city buses. Quick shoutout to the Doubletree staff in Philly--total awesomeness and courtesy.  The only courteous service biz I was able to find in philly.  Maybe we should have tried to eat in the hotel!  

We waited in front of the hotel and the bus just passed us by.  We started walking, trying to figure out how to get on a Big Red Bus.  FINALLY, after walking and trying to find a stop, we found the city hall Big Bus stop, which is where we got our info on how to catch a ride.

Not the actual building but the the area where Sixth Sense was filmed.  #Iseedeadpeople  This architectural delight was set up so tenants could have sunlight in every room of their abode.  Thought that was cool

Masonry too expensive to tear down--thank goodness! What a beautiful building.

I do have to say a lot about city tour bus businesses--you learn a LOT about the city and these guys and gals are great at what they do.  The buses roll the city in a big loop so we were able to mark our stops accordingly.  Even better, one of the stops was at the Hall of Music, directly across from our hotel. Rest easy, feet.  

We planned on definite stops for the day, but followed the Big bus route to GT's chagrin--he wanted to do the aquarium first-I'm glad we didn't or he'd have been a whiny kid for the rest of the tour! (He really had a good time though 'bell with a crack in it'--grrrrr).  

Our first stop in was the Eastern Penitentary. Stop 11. We also learned about the gates of hell at the Rodin Museum and how people are always getting their wedding pictures taken there, I wanted to go, but it wasn't in the cards for us this trip.  

The Penitentiary was dazzling in it's oldness and run down urbex landscape. 

There was an audio tour by Steve Buscemi and the information interested us all.  We walked around on the audio tour for about an hour or so, then it was on to the next destination, the Philly Museum of Art. 

We were very glad we got to ride the bus today.  Our second important stop was the Philly Museum of art.  Over 250,000 pieces and paintings, it is a world-class museum.  When we checked in, we checked out the WILD photography exhibition, then grabbed some camera socks, lion socks, and a couple gifts for Avery's friends.  Bonus--since we used our philly pass to get our tickets, we were able to get a complimentary extra day pass to the museum.  Deciding we could do that before we leave tomorrow, we took advantage of it, and left without checking out much more this day. 
While leaving the museum we had to stop and check out the Rocky Statue (of course). There was a guy that looked like the trainer taking pics with cell phones of people posing, then would ask for a gracious donation.  We did not do that; since Avery did not see the movie she did not care for it and was the one to take our picture.  It was fun, even if the Museum of art did not call the statue "art" and had it removed from the front of the museum to a shady slab area below.  Yes I ran the steps and did the Rocky thing :)  Yes I found out later by the tour guide on the bus that the people running up the steps are called "tourists" but I did not care. Kind of a funny jab being that we were on an actual tour bus.  Good stuff new college grad tour bus chick. 

ADRIAN

 We planned on hitting the Ben Franklin institute, but time was getting short on us and instead we decided to ride the bus to the River ferry to go to the aquarium.  Luckily we got there just as the ride was taking off across the Delaware river to go to Camden NJ for a stop at a very cool aquarium.  I'll just define the aquarium with the pics we were able to take inside.  It was a busy place with kids running around, but some very cool animals--penguins, hippos, sharks, jellyfish, turtles--just an awesome place.  GT's pick of places to go was a good one.

 After the aquarium visit we walked and waited for the Big Red bus for what seemed like 5 hours.  It was hot, and now that GT got to see what he wanted, he was ready to head back to the hotel.  We had about 45 minutes left in the Big Bus tour, so we decided to try and hit the Franklin Institute; I've heard great things about this hands-on museum.  The buses were running late on this final stop for teamitchyfoot, and at the end of the tour, to loop around we had to change buses and wait a little longer.  By the time we actually got to the Institute, it was already 4:30. 

We entered the institute and checked out multiple sporting exhibits jumped around a little bit, sprinted, swung bats, and even got off the $3 for the kiddos to ride the sky bike across the atrium.  

Pretty neat stuff, and; the place was open until 7pm.  We decided to forgo the Tour Bus and walk back to the hotel, hoping for a good spot for dinner.  But it's Philly.  All the restaurants we were interested in were closed by 2PM or whatever time it is they close.  After walking forever, we finally gave up and hit a bar two blocks from the hotel for some bar food and sandwiches, and cheap beer. Bonus, it was trivia night. Jen and I held our own, Avery helped out with some answers (however we did not place), then we let the kiddos go back to the hotel after a very long but very fun and lesson filled day. 

It didn't take long for the kids to all us and tell us they were back at the hotel since we were so close, but Avery did tell us there were helicopters flying over buildings--3 of them with cops flying by and firetrucks too. I know these older buildings catch fire a lot, so when Jen and I got back to the hotel about 10 minutes later, we decided to take Avery (GT did not want to go) and see what was happening.  We saw the hook and ladder truck less than a block away, kind of scary but found out by one of the firemen that there was an apartment fire but they had it under control.  Glad I brought my mirrorless for some urban pics.  Exciting. 

When we got back, it had gotten a little chilly outside.  Jen and I hung out on the deck and had a couple of beers from our cooler in the brisk air before retiring to bed early, to get ready for another art museum trip tomorrow before heading back to Williamsport for our final four days of vacation. 

Feet at rest