PHILADELPHIA AND AMISH COUNTRY

5:55 a.m. this morning saw this intrepid pair of travellers stride out our hotel lobby, turn left and head to head to the 31st Street Metro Station, to Rockefeller Centre, then across town a few blocks.  Our bus first drove through the Lincoln Tunnel, under the Hudson, to New Jersey and in to Philadelphia.

This city was once the capital of the United States.  But look who I bumped into there!

 His Holiness must have been impressed with this old style multi level shopping centre like me.

 Next we went to a section of The City of Love where history was made.  Here is the Liberty Bell, housed until nine years ago outside in a glass case.  Now a whole new wing of a building has been designed to accommodate it.

 Across the road were three associated buildings.  The one on the left was the Town Hall, but the middle one is known as Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence AND the Constitution were signed.  We entered the third, called Congress Hall.  This is where the Government met when Philly was the capital city.  In this chamber sat the representatives of the former colonies, which is why the flag has thirteen stripes, to represent the original thirteen states.

When the first election was held, they gathered here in this room.  Several Presidents were inaugurated here.  The first eleven Amendments to the Constitution were passed in this room!

This is one of the committee meeting rooms upstairs, on either side of the corridor, which leads to the end room that runs the full width of the building.  This is where the Senate sat.

The former Senate chamber is still impressive and the emblem has thirteen stars, not the fifty that represent all the states today.

Across the road in a small shady park is this statue, called The Signer, dedicated to those who were brave enough to sign their names to these historic documents.

Elfreth's Alley is a narrow street believed to be the oldest surviving street of housing in America.  Homes are still privately owned and the facades are under strict heritage conditions,

They are narrow fronted homes and this one was built in 1703.

Above is the entire building.  Below is more of the alley.  I am not sure how the residents feel about bus loads of tourists traipsing down their narrow street, when their front doors and windows are set right on the alley.

Next we headed to the Art Gallery, only because the steps leading up became famous when one Rocky Balboa used them for training.  There is even a statue of him to the right of the steps.  As our tour guide wryly said, "Two statues.  One of Rocky and the other of a less important person, George Washington."

An hour's drive had us deep in Amish country, at the town named for the coarse roads of the time it was settled, Intercourse.

Here we were piled into three Amish buggies for a ride.  I thought it would be kitschy but our female driver, Bev, was a delight.  "Ask me anything," she said.  It was another hot day and the two horses plodded off.

Bev explained, "They are trained to walk in the car park but when we get out a bit, they go faster and the Amish air conditioning will kick in!"

Bev has five children and it takes her 45 minutes with her horse each way to get to work.  Amish and Mennonite children share the same school.  The main difference to the sects is the Mennonites allow electricity and use tractors.  The children leave formal schooling on their 15th birthday and begin work.

This buggy was following ours.  Amish can use solar panels to run appliances, but not ride bikes.  They can travel in cars, but not drive them.  If they want more education, they must leave the sect.  Men grow a beard when married, but not a moustache.  Their trousers are held up with braces, not belts.

We saw several Amish travelling along on these scooters.  One foot is on the running board and they push with the other.

Dairy farming and growing corn are the major sources of income in this Amish community,  but the 300,000 Amish live in many states throughout America.

I was going to have my photo taken with Bev, a real Amish person!

She was genial and friendly and exploded my preconceptions of a fierce, stoic Amish wife.

I was surprised that many of the farm houses we passed were right close to the roadway and close together.  This one is set way back.

Travelling back, from New Jersey we had a stunning view across the river at the Manhattan skyline.

When we stopped in Intercourse for lunch and a look around I swiftly found, after several failed attempts, a quilting shop and purchased a little material.  Sadly I never had time to do more than gaze at the rows and rows of bolts of fabric.

This is a fraction of the selection there.  (Sigh.)