Kaleidoscope Project On Location: Philadelphia

Give Me Liberty!

Sarni and I were not expecting Philly to be such an education in American history.  I mean, call me Canadian, but I just didn't realize what a central role Philadelphia played in the forming of the United States.  And Sarni especially loved all the references to defeating the evil British empire.  Anyway, it was pretty cool to see where the Declaration of Independence was first signed (and the DoI itself, although we were warned repeatedly that it could very well be a facsimile).

Okay, so this is hilarious.  See that poster above?  We ended up watching that film (Sarni was particularly enthusiastic, I think mostly because he wanted to take a nap).  That girl in the center of the photo is the now well-known actress Kristen Bell!  I never knew Veronica Mars was so involved in the American Revolution.  The things you learn.

A super-creative history exhibit.  Well played, Constitutional Center, well played.

The room where the founding fathers signed the Declaration, etc.  Not to get too political, but one thing that I thought was pretty cool was that Philly was very upfront and honest about the problematic fact that George Washington owned slaves.  Not just owned them - adamantly refused to free them.  I mean, how did he reconcile that with his authoring of the Declaration and the phrase "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal"?  Now THAT'S a worthy People article.

Sarni and I stumbled upon the Liberty museum, which was a really good museum - moving, powerful, etc.  I have to be honest, though - the initial reason we went inside was because we heard about the jellybean exhibit (two children, made out of jellybeans, in front of a backdrop of moving butterflies).  It's probably not good that I saw "Liberty Museum" and thought "ooh, jellybeans!"

Also at the National Liberty Museum was the Flame of Liberty, a 20-foot art piece made out of blown glass.  It was pretty much as impressive as it sounds.

Finally, ta-dah!  The Liberty Bell!  We actually visited it twice - the first time, the line was so ridiculously long, we were like, pffft, I'm not waiting that long to visit some bell.  (Is it strange I'm worried that we hurt the bell's feelings?)  Anyway, the second time, the line wasn't too bad, and we ended up learning a lot about the bell.  Probably more than I needed to know about the crack.  (Insert inappropriate joke here.)

Philadelphia, PA.  On Canon Powershot and Canon Rebel SLR.