Hello everyone!
I'm writing to you from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (yay - I made it!).
This morning I got up at 5am, packed up and left the hostel. Luckily, workers outside had been hard at work clearing the paths and roads, and the snowstorm had stopped at midnight. So it was easier than I thought to navigate the streets. The snow was quite thick at each curb though so I had to pick up my case each time.
After about a 20 minute walk I arrived at Back Bay Station and waited for my train. All was good, it was on the board as 'on time' and so I sat waiting on the platform chatting to a girl called Hannah from Maryland who studies in Boston. However, it got to 6.45am (our scheduled departure time) and no train arrived. Not only this but no announcement, and it disappeared off the board. After 15 minutes of no train and no announcements, the 40 or so of us on the platform were concerned. We were told no one at the station worked for Amtrak, and the only way we got an update was by calling. Turns out the engine of our train wasn't working so it hadn't left yet. Would have been nice if they'd let us know!! We were told it would probably be cancelled, but then randomly at 7.50am the train rolled in and we boarded all ok. Everyone was really frustrated due to the terrible communication, but I was just happy to be on board and moving.
It was -10 this morning, and so in between each carriage there was lots of snow and ice that kept blowing in. It was so strange!! I sat with Hannah until her stop in Providence and then listened to my music and watched Rhode Island, Connecticut (reminded me of reading 'The Babysitters Club', New York, New Jersey and eventually Pennsylvania sail by. I passed a baseball field covered in snow, many beautiful and partly frozen lakes and lots of sunshine. When we passed through New York City it made me feel a little sad as I miss Alisha, Shannon and Jess already. What a great time we had there just over a week ago! I got a great view of the skyline.
We passed through Trenton which I remembered from year 12 history is where Washington and his soldiers crossed the Delaware and controversially attacked the British soldiers in Trenton on Christmas night.
Then finally, albeit an hour late, we arrived in Philadelphia. We were told to be careful as some of the doors had frozen shut, and a kind man upon hearing my Australian accent started pointing things out to me out the window.
I caught the metro seven stops east and got to my hostel. It's ok, but the Boston one was heaps better. I'm really tired and just want to keep to myself and everything here is really geared at hanging out in the common room. The rooms are tiny, there's nowhere to lock my stuff and no lock on the door. Just getting bad vibes, and am glad I'm only staying for two nights.
Regardless of the bad vibes I set off for a few hours this afternoon and had a great time. My first stop was Independence Hall. I had a lot of preconceived ideas as to what this area would look like thanks to the Nicholas Cage movie 'National Treasure'. The snow made it look quite a bit different though!!
For most of the year you need to book tickets in advance to enter Independence Hall, but in January and February you just walk on in. Independence Hall was formerly known as the Pennsylvania State House and was built in between 1732 and 1753. I saw the court house and then the assembly room, where the second Continental Congress occurred during the spring of 1775. The Declaration of Independence was later signed in this room on August the 2nd 1776. Most people think it was July 4th, but that was when edits were made to it. It was a very strange feeling to know that I was standing in the very same room that the likes of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Sam Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Paul Revere and more all once met to discuss, edit and sign the Declaration. Jefferson is of course the one who actually wrote it, but it was discussed here and alterations were made before it was signed.
In 1865 in this room, Abraham Lincoln's casket was sat in the middle for the public to come and pay their respects on one particular day. Apparently 100,000 people came through.
An extremely passionate worker told us lots of information (including that the chair at the front desk is the actual one George Washington sat in!) and then I headed outside to a smaller building which enclosed the exhibition called 'Great Essentials'. This had copies of the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Articles of Federation( 1776-1789) and the Constitution (1787).
The initial copy of the Declaration isn't the fancy cursive script one you've probably got in mind. It was quite a plain one that was drawn up, and through the night of the 4th of July a man named John Dunlap worked to make 150-200 copies to distribute to spread the word. The 'pretty' version was made later on for August the 2nd. Only 26 of Dunlap's copies exist today, and the last one was found in the 80s when a man bought a painting at a flea market for $6 because he liked its frame. He took the picture out and on the back was a copy which he then sold for $2 million!! Lucky him.
On the same site I then went into Congress Hall where I saw the House of Reps (where John Adams was inaugurated as the second president of the USA) and the senate. This building functioned as the Capitol building until Washington was made the capital of the US, and Philadelphia was actually the larger city of all the colonies and the capital between 1790 and 1800. I also saw some committee rooms.
Next I made my way to the Liberty Bell, right across the road. You have to be scanned by security everywhere here and each time I was, they were not impressed that I had to take off three jackets! The first bell for the state house/Independence Hall was cast in 1750 in London, but after testing it, John Pass and John Stow (more 'National Treasure' feels!!) were hired to recast it. In 1753 it sat atop the state hall.
The Liberty Bell has a famous crack or gap across its front, and this occurred after trying to fix a smaller crack at some point. The bell was tolling in 1846 for George Washington's Birthday in 1846 when the gap worsened severely, ruining the bell's sound.
Over the years the bell acted as a way to summon the members of the Pennsylvania Assembly, it announced noteworthy events and in 1777 it was removed and taken to a safe place so that the British who were occupying the city wouldn't steal it. At 2000 pounds, its weight was threatening to topple Independence Hall anyway.
The rest of the exhibition then went on to talk about how the bell has been used as a symbol of liberty in antislavery campaigns, and by the suffragettes. It was also seen as a national reunification symbol after the civil war.
Then I got to the end and actually got to look at the bell it was pretty special!
I had a quick look inside the Independence Visitors Centre and watched a bit of a lake reenactment movie about Ben Franklin's era, and then made my way back to the hostel as by this time it was getting dark and colder. It was a top of -5 today! I also passed the walls that stand where the president's house used to be. Washington and Adams lived here during their presidencies.
On the way back I found a nifty little health food store that sold meals prepared on site and something very exciting happened - I had my first vegetables since I left home! I think I'll be back there tomorrow for a second helping. I had a yummy meatloaf with sweet potato and beans.
Now I'm back in the hostel but as I said, I don't feel all that comfortable here. I'll probably pass the time tonight by reading and having a fairly early night. Tomorrow I've got lots more planned too!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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