Take a tour with me of Philly

We stay downtown Philadelphia.  It is a little walk to Independence Square where the liberty bell is displayed but the sights along the way are pretty cool.  The first picture is the downtown federal buildings.  That is where city hall is located.  You pass underneath it and keep walking to the Historic district.  The Federal building is unique in as you can see it is a historical looking building in the middle of all the skyscrapers.  It really stands out.  As you continue on there is a lot of buildings with painted art on the sides.  I snapped a shot of one by the Burger King.  Oh ya it is not uncommon to see a homeless person a sleep on the sidewalk along the way.  Very sad to see.

Next stop is the Liberty Bell Center.  The Liberty Bell is in a building next to Independence Hall were it once rang.  It is very cool to see it up close.  It is very big and has a inscription on it proclaiming independence years before it actually happened.  The Liberty Bell was first heard in 1753 where it rang in the top of the Pennsylvania State House.  That building was renamed to become Independence hall after July 4th, 1776.  It was the delegates in the State House that adopted and later signed the Declaration of Independence.  The document was mostly drafted by Thomas Jefferson but Benjamin Franklin helped revise the document for approval.  The last picture is the grave site of Benjamin Franklin and his family.  A lot of history here.  The Liberty Bell rang for Independence and cracked sometime in the early 1800's.  They tried to fix it but it never rang again.  It is guarded in the building it now sits and a few years ago a crazy person tried to ring it with a hammer and struck it and was promptly taken into custody at gunpoint.  I guess they are serious about no touchy.