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Today we decided to visit Eastern State Penitentiary, which was once famed for its progressive system of imprisonment but is now a crumbling ruin. We booked tickets online,, to avoid queuing and also to get a slightly cheaper rate. Even better, we had a coupon to get a further two dollars off - winner, winner! We also discovered that there is a really useful bus that operates around Philly - the 'Phlash' - primarily for tourists, I think, but it loops the city, stopping at key tourist hotspots and single tickets are only a dollar! A day of bargains so far. It conveniently stopped outside the prison so we were soon 'in the clink' and getting our audio tour started. 

The audio tour covered the most significant features of the prison - it was designed to promote 'penitence' hence being named a 'penitentiary' and it was all about completely isolating the prisoners. They had their own cells, their own yard (open to the elements) and were not released from cells at all. Theoretically, it was to encourage reflection and repentence. Over the years, as the war on crime picked up in the States and masses of people were being incarcerated, they had to extend the prison, so things changed gradually. But there is a lot of the original prison structure to have an idea of what it must have been like, although it is beginning to disintegrate and crumble away. It is really quite eerie in some parts. 

From there we wandered towards Fairmont park, immortalised because of the 'Rocky' steps that lead up to the Philadelphia museum of art that's near the bottom of the park. We walked up the steps - we could have run to be like Rocky, but no! - and had a little sit on a bench at the top. It started to rain a little bit so we had to put ponchos on but it passed over, so we 'de-ponchoed'. We decided to walk into the rest of the park and, as we were going down the steps, it started to rain again, so we 're-ponchoed'. But this time, it didn't stop. In fact, it rained more. And more. We ended up having to rush back up the steps and under the shelter of the museum, running through the flash flood water so we were pretty soaked by the time we got there. Thankfully it passed over again, so we decided to head back to the hotel. We waited for the Phlash again and were lucky to get on it before the heavens opened. It was a deluge! The bus saved us a fair bit of walking but we still had to walk a bit and the bus also stopped just before a river running down the street - so any part of our feet that weren't wet before, were certainly wet now! When we got back to the hotel, we muct have resembled drowned rats!

Ended up ordering Dominos for tea, rather than face the rain again.

We had planned to get up early but ended up sleeping in a bit, getting out just after 10. We had decided to explore some of the history of Philadelphia today starting with the Liberty Bell. Philadelhia was the first capital of the United States before it was moved to Washington in 1800, so there are some of the original buildings from the time that it served as capital city. After visiting the bell, we went to the vistor center to get tickets for Independance Hall. You have timed tickets to get in and fortunately we able to get tickets for entry just 20 minutes later. 

We had a short tour though Independence Hall which is where both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were signed. From here we joined a queue to enter Congress Hall, which is where the US Congress met when Philadelphia was the capital. When we came out, it did start to rain a bit so we made use of the Niagra Ponchos to keep us dry. Having explored the main site, we decided to look around the local area where there are few other historic buidings including the first and second bank. We started in the Washington Park, where there is the tomb of the unknown soldier before heading out onto Chesnut street to get some lunch from Knead Bagels, a bagel shop. We shared a BLT and a Egg and Ham bagel before continuing to explore. There was a film crew and lots of equipment and cast around on Chesnut street so we stuck around for a bit to have a look, apparently it was for a new TV show.

Walking on, we ended up in an 18th century garden, stopping to take a few pictures we heard a bird cry nearby and saw a brilliant red Cardinal. Whilst taking pictures, we both managed to get bitten a lot - joy! Out the corner of my eye I saw a bird with a much larger wing span fly overhead and seemingly land in the trees across the road in the gardens of a church. We headed out to take a look, but couldn't see anything and then moments later as we were about to leave, a Cooper Hawk landed on a low branch right infront of us, with a mouse that it had just caught. Spent quite a while taking photos before moving on again. Walking off the historical mile, we decided to head for some ships Dani had spotted on the map, the USS Olympia and SS Becuna (submarine).

Arriving at the dockyard, we found that we could go on both the USS Olympia steam ship and the USS Becuna submarine for $10 each, it was really quiet so we headed on exploring the submarine first. It was amazing inside, and we spent quite a long time working through the submarine as we were the only people on board. It's only the second time we've been on a submarine with the last time being at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, this time we saw much more of the submarine looking at living quarters, the engine room and the tornado tubes amongst other things. The USS Olympia was also impressive set over 5 floors including the top deck, we were able to explore 3 of the floors again seeing the more generous living quarters afforded by a bigger ship. 

Leaving the dockyard, we headed back towards the Independence hall visitor center to have a look in the shop and stop for a drink. The weather had also picked up a bit from the morning so I took the oppportunity to get some additional photos of the Independence Mall and surrounding area. As we were getting ready to head off, a gentleman saw me taking photos and suggested we look inside the Bourse Building which is to the side of the Independence Mall. As we were close by, we decided to take a look. The building dates back to the end of the 19th century and inside it is an artisian food and shopping market providing a range of dining options. The architecture is amazing with the centre portion of the building open all the way to the skylights at the top, it really was quite an impressive sight. Whilst there we stopped for a snack, Dani had a sticky bun parfait and I had an enourmous chocolate icecream - amazing!

Back at the hotel, I decided to take the camera out to get a night shot of the council building which is down the road from the hotel. We stopped just outside the hotel on the way to get some tea, managing to get the photo I was after first time!