Philadelphia,PA~Today is Tuesday, April 26, 2011, and we woke up at 6:00 am, to a clear day in Philadelphia and the temperature reached 83 degrees Fahrenheit. 

I quickly packed my luggage and went directly to breakfast at 6:30 am.  I really wasn't too crazy about the food this morning.  We were given foam plates to eat from and the eggs were soggy, the bacon was soft and the potatoes were not too tasty, but I guess it was OK.  We then took our luggage to the motor coach and left for Independence Hall.

I really enjoyed being at Independence Hall and looking at the location where the Declaration of Independence was signed by all original 13 states, but I was really tired during the presentation and was falling asleep, but I was able to listen to most of it.  Everyone in my group was also tired but we stuck it out.  I learned that the Declaration was actually signed on July 2, 1776, ratified on July 4, 1776, but not announced to the people until July 8^th to avoid revenge from the King.  The tower of Independence Hall was being renovated and it was tarped to make it appear that the bell tower was still there so some of my pictures still came out nice.

We then walked into see the Liberty Bell which is an incredible symbol of our freedom to our country.  After, we walked to the Independence Museum where we saw a theatre presentation on "We the people."  I enjoyed the performance, but didn't learn anything new at this point, but it was a good show.  

I then walked to the Betsy Ross House a block away, but stopped by the cemetery first to see the head stone of Benjamin Franklin.  At the Betsy Ross house, a lady played the part of Betsy Ross with a British accent and explained that George Washington came to her to create a flag for the United States of America.  She made it fun and we were able to ask her some questions.

We then got back on our motor coach to leave for New York City.  We finished watching the movie, "Gettysburg," on the 2 hour trip to New York.  At New York, a tour guide gave us a coach tour of New York.  We first stopped at St. John of the Devine which was a really amazing cathedral.  I don't know too much about Westminster Abbey in England, but our tour guide said that Westminster Abbey can fit in the center of the St. John of the Devine and still have plenty of space left over.  In other words, this place was huge!  This is the largest cathedral in the nation and it is still unfinished, but how can you blame them because it's so big.  We also stopped at Central Park (very nice), passed by SoHo, Time Square and arrived at out hotel.  

For dinner, we walked to Bubba Gumps at Times Square.  The lights at times square were brighter than Las Vegas, and there were tons of people there.  It was very exciting.  At Bubba Gumps, I had the fish and chips, which was not very good, Anna had a cheeseburger, and Alex had the fried shrimp.  Immediately after dinner, we went to Rockefeller Center Top of the Rock and got some spectacular photos of the New York skyline.  On our way out of the Rockefeller Center, we took a wrong turn and the security guards told us to go the opposite way, which was another long walk.  Our tour guide was pretty mad about this and almost had the guy for lunch, but she was only trying to save us from walking more than the 100 miles we already walked just in this day alone.

Later, we arrived back at our hotel at midnight - yes midnight - and we still had to get ready for another long day, but New York is a really exciting place to be and I'm very happy to be here.

I am looking forward to the Statue of Liberty tomorrow.