Freedom, Liberty and Justice for all!

Hello!

We drove to Philadelphia this morning after we left the hotel in DC. It was snowing outside, and the weather was pretty cold. It took us a couple hours to get there, then we had lunch in Reading Terminal which used to be a train station. Now its a big market where a lot of kinds of food, from all around the world, like some fancy bread and some good-looking grilled food. We got a chance to choose food from different countries. We were so glad to find some Chinese food and it was so great! I finished lunch early so I walked outside on the streets for a little while and took some pictures of the city buildings.They are quite different from those in DC.

Reading Terminal (photo courtesy of Paul)

Reading Terminal (photo courtesy of Paul)

 Then we went to the Constitution Center and watched a performance there called "We the people."We learned a lot about Declaration of Independence and its background. After that, we met the guides for walking tour of historic part of Philadelphia. We visited the Liberty Hall, Independence Hall, Carpenter's Hall, Benjamin Franklin's house and his grave. I threw some pennies to Franklin's grave as well as other students, hoping to get good luck, and I think I did. The buildings were really cool. We took a lot of photos and had so much fun walking in the cold weather!

Me at the Constitution Center with statures of the founding fathers 

Our half of the group in front of the Liberty Bell

Independence Hall (Photo courtesy of Paul)

Carpenter's Hall on our walking tour

Then, we had a short bus tour and saw a lot of famous buildings through the bus window. We saw the City Hall which is the tallest masonic building in the US (and most beautiful!). Then we stopped in front of the famous "Rocky steps" and ran to the top!

Group shot in front of downtown Philadelphia (on "Rocky" Steps)

Also we saw some interesting little shops on the street. The most attractive one for me is the Avenue of Art. There were so many cool murals and art works on the wall of the houses! They were so awesome! For dinner, most of us had cheese steaks, which was the famous food in Philadelphia. We enjoyed the food there and said bye to Philadelphia.Then we had a two-hour-drive to New York city.



And we are super excited for our first day in New York City tomorrow!

- Jasper (China)