Callid wrote:
NotSoFluent wrote:
Also...do historic monuments/exhibits count? I live outside of Philadelphia (east coast of the US) which has a lot of sites dating all the way back to America's founding and Revolution with some other neat stuff. I'd love to show pictures of the Franklin Institute and the Liberty Bell too.
Do so.
A sight is everything people come to look at, or at least I would define it that way...
Okay then.
It'll be kind of tl;dr, but I'll try keeping it short.
There's actually a lot to see in Philadelphia, especially if you're an American history buff. I'll try to keep it to historical things since I might get too carried away\ if I start mentioning restaurants.
This is the Betsy Ross House, where Betsy Ross lived, designed, and sewn the first American flag. It's very well-preserved, but very hot inside in the summer time. The room where Betsy made the flag is on pristine display and a flag with her original design waves outside of the house.
The infamous Liberty Bell. It's actually under pretty heavy security now after 9/11 and a few attempts made to vandalize it, but it's still worth the long security screenings. It weighs over 2080 pounds and is a very prominent symbol of revolution and liberation.
Independence Hall. This monument is CROWDED like nothing else during late June and throughout July for obvious reasons. The fireworks during the 4th of July are beautiful here. Below the exterior picture is a picture of the Assembly Room, where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Philly isn't called "America's Birthplace" for nothin'.
Philly's Old City district is, well, the oldest district in the city! Real cobblestone streets, historical homes, old shops, and even old posts where people used to tie the reigns of their horses when they stopped by.
I couldn't forget the Philadelphia Museum. Also, anyone remember those scenes in the
Rocky movies where he's running up the museum steps? Here's the statue of Rocky himself in front of the Philadelphia Museum. You tend to see visitors trying to run up the steps of the museum all the time (I've tried it once, it's seriously not easy).
Now for the Ben Franklin stuff. For those who don't know, he's one of the most influential Founding Fathers and overall most accomplished/interesting American historical figure. Franklin was a newspaper editor, an inventor, a scientist, a politician, an author...he was practically superhuman in talent. He's well-known for his kite-flying experiment during the thunderstorm. Because of his hand in America's founding and his influence on Philadelphia and the culture in general, he's a pretty big mascot here.
Here's the Franklin Institute, which is a big science museum complete with a planetarium and IMAX theatre.
The statue of Benjamin Franklin himself.
The Heart and the swinging Foucault Pendulum, which swings to the way the Earth rotates, are the two most well-known parts of the museum. The rest all show his inventions and experiments, as well as so much more. It had a King Tut exhibit with all of King Tutankhamen's possessions on display a couple of years back.
Ben Franklin and his wife Deborah's grave. Visitors like to throw pennies on the gravestone in reference to his saying, "A penny saved is a penny earned" in the
Poor Richard's Almanack, which is highly ironic. It's meant to bring good luck if you throw a penny on his grave.
http://www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com/bigm ... /index.htm
^Here's a site for moar Ben things. Seriously, he's almost everywhere in Philadelphia.
I think I'll stop here. I just love living near this city so much that I won't let up talking about it.
Beautiful cherry blossoms! 
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are attached, that paragraph may not be 100% serious. Seriously.
![http://image.ohmynews.com/down/images/1 ... 51811].jpg](http://image.ohmynews.com/down/images/1/ysku_194689_1%5B251811%5D.jpg){kind=link}
