October 1 Philadelphia

We have a 27-hour layover here and a chance to breathe and become travelers /tourists.

My last and only visit to Philadelphia was in 1976. I visited the archaeological site in Ben Franklin’s yard. Today we saw plaques in the courtyard for his well and his privy: the result of that excavation I assume.

The National Park that encloses Independence Hall and other buildings from the 1700s is integrated with modern buildings and businesses. I saw many ethnic restaurants and heard numerous languages. As cars dropped tourists on the curb I tried to imagine horses on the cobbled streets. I tried to channel signers in their breeches headed to debate liberty as the joggers ran by.

I’m writing on this on my cellphone in a wing chair in the parlor of the Thomas Bond House circa 1763. Cool jazz plays in the background.

As a lifelong Westerner, I am always moved when I visit the East Coast. “It’s so old!

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