Let Freedom Ring

So we spent three nights at a small family campground in Monroeville, New Jersey. This was the closest campground I could find so we could visit the city of brotherly love. No I don’t believe that “marketing term of brotherly love”. Personally I hate Philly, but hey, the American Revolution made this city important to our history and that is why were are here.

Back in 1975, yes that long ago, I was a Private in the Army going thru basic training at Fort Dix, NJ. After week 5, I (a 17yr old) was granted a weekend pass, so together with a friend of mine, nick-named Radar, hopped onto a Greyhound bus and went to Philly to visit (get drunk). Well, when you are 17, a visit does not include museums and visitor center like we (read “old”) do now. It was to hit as many bars we could before Sunday at 1000 when we had to return to boot camp.

So two young soldiers were walking down the street minding their own business at about 2200 hrs, when a big tall black police officer approached us. The cop sternly asked Radar what was “HE” doing here? “He” meaning me! Radar was a 6 foot tall black guy. We were both in our khakis (class B military dress uniform), so the cop knew we were military. Radar told him we were on “pass” enjoying the weekend away from Ft Dix. Well, the cop looked at me and said to Radar get him off the street now, before something bad happens ! You get the picture, “brotherly love huh” , okay back to Gypsy and Chapter 11 today. I hate philly…

The four of us drove into Philly where we bought tickets for a hop on, hop off bus. This double decker bus took us to 25 different points of interest so we could get the lay of the land. One of the stops of course was the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

There’s not much more Americana you can get than seeing the cracked bell and thinking about all of “our” history that surrounds it. Not just the crack in the bell itself, but the symbolism it has represented in our American History.

Remember your childhood school history classes. Where you sat in the back of the classroom looking out the window and imagining you were wearing a white wig and writing that letter to King George telling him to drop dead, (or something to affect) like that in the Declaration of Independence? Wow, think about coming up with those thoughts and words. Telling the King of England and the world all the terrible things he has done to our colonies, and that we weren’t going to take it anymore! That took some guts and money!

The Liberty Bell was definitely cool to see it up so close and take the time to reminisce.  The older I get, the more I reminisce. After all, one of the reasons for our traveling our great country is to create our own memories and insert ourselves into and add to our “old” memories. Yep, kind a kool…

Think about The Independence Hall as to how small that building was while it represented so much. Compare that building to the modern day Washington DC. Of course there were only 13 states when we began, and grew to 16 states before the US Capitol was moved from Philly to Washington DC.

After sightseeing, we decided to grab some Chinese food in Chinatown. Which was an experience. The (Chinese) waitress pretended she didn’t know English, and she and Howie could not communicate as to what he wanted to order. Imagine a Brooklynite trying to impose his wishes and it not working. It was kinda funny, kinda scary. Yup he got something he didn’t really want but he sucked it up and ate it anyways.

On day two we returned to Philly and won the lotto by getting the same parking spot we did the day before. Of course went back to the Reading terminal market, that is where the food is!

Why is parking in the same spot so important you ask? Well, Howie is driving a Ram 3500 dually, with a bike rack on the front and mud flaps hanging off the rear hitch. This makes a truck with big hips a long truck. Howie always says he is a professional truck driver, and he got to prove his skills navigating through the crowded narrow streets of brotherly love. But Howie did it.

There, under one roof since 1893, is a farmers market on steroids. There are 31 eateries, with no franchise or box stores. 8 bakeries, 6 bars, 3 confectionary, and 2 ice cream shops. 5 meat and poultry, 3 seafood markets,  2 produce stores and 16 specialty shops. The smells of so many different food, together with the visual aspect of light, display cases, and the wide variety of people that were there eating was almost a sensory overload. So we all got the mandatory Philly cheesesteak sandwich before we exited and  hopped on the bus again and went to the East Pennsylvania penitentiary. 

No we didn’t get arrested. We were there on a tourist visa and were paroled on good behavior. HA, believe that one don’t you! It was a pretty cool tour, as it was a walking audio tour and it’s was very interesting. This prison opened in 1822 and closed in 1971 with its most famous occupant, Al Capone, whose cell was set up like a hotel room. 

We caught the bus back to the Reading Terminal Market. This time, Howie and I each had a slice of pizza while the girls got a cup of coffee and went shopping at the Butcher stores and produce shops. We left there carrying out a bounty of goods as we made our way to the parking lot where Howie’s truck was still parked.

Oh btw, we did drive by Pats and Ginos. Two of the most famous cheese steak restaurants in Philly. We could not stop as they are located narrow one way roads with no place to park a truck with big hips and lips!

We had a great time visiting Philly, which really surprises me because I really hate Philly. I’ve never liked it. GO GIANTS! I wouldn’t live here, but we had a good time being a tourist.