Travel Blog: Day 5 - Philadelphi - > Breakfast at Philadelphi Bourse -> Independence Hall - > Liberty Bell -> Washington DC -> Air and Space Museum -> Washington's Memorial-> Capitol Building

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Day 5 - Philadelphi - > Breakfast at Philadelphi Bourse -> Independence Hall - > Liberty Bell -> Washington DC -> Air and Space Museum -> Washington's Memorial-> Capitol Building

This morning, we travelled to Philadephi, about an hour ride from the hotel. It was raining this morning.
We had such a short time to take breakfast and to take some shots of the Independence Hall and The Liberty Bell. What's more, it was raining!
Did not have enough time to go into the hall and see the Liberty Bell. We took a glance of it from the window.
Independence Hall is the centerpiece of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, on Chestnut Street between 5th and 6th Streets. It is known primarily as the location where both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted.

The building was completed in 1753 as the colonial legislature (later Pennsylvania State House) for the Province of Pennsylvania. It became the principal meeting place of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1783 and was the site of the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787. The building is part of Independence National Historical Park and is listed as a World Heritage Site. Philadephi Independence Hall

Took and enjoyed our breakfast at Bain's Deli at the Bourse opposite the Liberty Hall. Water and food are cheaper here, compared to NY.
Our bacon egg sandwich which was quite nice!

Our daughter's set breakfast. Total breakfast cost: US$18.73 for 3 breakfasts with water.

After that, it was an hour's ride to Washington DC and the bright and sunny weather welcomed us as the bus drove into Washington.
The first stop was the Air and Space Museum and admission is FREE!

Inside the Museum - we made a brief stop here. Very interesting museum but we do not have time for them.

Delta Solar stainless steel sculpture outside the National Air and Space Museum. It is constructed by Alejandro Otero and
is filled with stainless steel rotary sails that turn in the slightest breeze.

There are many museums in this area and it will probably take a week to visit all of them though they are close to one another.
They are known as the Smithsonian museums and 11 are located here on the National Mall. They are donated by James Smithson, an English
chemist and mineralogist who had no descendents and the founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution. All of them look very interesting
but it is a pity we had no time to visit them. The best thing about them is admission is free!
Map of the museum area.

Natural History Museum

American History Museum

East entrance to the Smithsonian Institution Building - beautiful building which looked like a church!

Smithsonian Insituition Building (The Castle)

Washington's Memorial at one end of the National Mall

Kiepenkerl, a modern sculpture, constructed of polished cast stainless steel by Jeff Koons, located in the Hirshhorn Museum
and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. It refers to the traveling peddlers statue in Münster, Germany. Jeff Koons is an
American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror-finish surfaces.