Liberty Bell

First full day in Philadelphia on a beautiful hot sunny day - until the heavens opened around 6pm.

We did the tourist overview of the city.  It is in its own USA way a beautiful city, stuffed with history and art, modern and colonial buildings, classical and contemporary design, statues both American and French and lots of tales of Benjamin Franklin and William Penn and the Declaration of Independence and the constitution.

It will take weeks to see it all and I already have enough photos and info to give a talk on Philadelphia alone.  

We had to see the symbol of freedom and democracy which is the Liberty Bell.  But so much more to see.  The extras give a brief flavour.  From the largest stone building in the world (City Hall) which took 30 years to build; to the tallest statute on any building in the world (William Penn at 40ft tall); to the detailed signs on buildings to signal that they were protected by fire insurance and that the fire brigade would attempt to douse the flames there.

And so so much more.

The evening was spent in a lovely French restaurant with family and friends.