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Philadelphia - Part 3
Eating our Way through Philadelphia
Written by: Janet Pope
As we ate our way through Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love proved to be a wonderful and tasty smorgasbord of history, culture, fine dining, and creative entertainment -- only a hop, skip, jump, and a 2 ½-hour ride from New York City.
Day 3
We awoke bright and early and looked forward to our Starbucks coffee and tea. We walked from our hotel a few blocks to the Masonic Temple. I knew as much about the Masons as I knew about the Mummers. I had a vague notion that the Masons were a fraternal organization, but that was the extent of my knowledge. Well, if you want to learn about this group -- which by the way, is the oldest continuously existing fraternal organization in the world -- this temple, also a headquarters, is the place to go. If you have no interest in the Masons, you should still go; the architecture is breathtaking. We took a tour at 10am, and tours are free.
We learned many famous people in history were Masons, such as George Washington, General Lafayette, Admiral Perry, and Ben Franklin to name a few. Talk about historical ties that bind, this museum holds the Masonic apron worn by Washington and embroidered by Mme. Lafayette in 1784.
Currently there are 4 ½ million Masons worldwide, and 2 ½ million in the United States alone...and I don't think I know one of them. We proceeded though the 7 meeting halls in this building. Each hall was constructed and decorated in a different, elaborate architectural style.
The Oriental hall was modeled after the Columbia Palace, and today is used as a meeting place about 8 times a month. The Gothic Hall is naturally Gothic in style, and was a large space resplendent in red carpeting and hand-carved oak benches with a throne modeled after the one used by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Also there is the Ionic Room, Egyptian Room, Romanesque Room, and Renaissance Hall. Each meeting place was grander than the next. This is one of the 3 great Masonic Lodge Buildings in the World in both size and opulence and should be on every sightseeing list of places to visit.
After our tour, we hated to say goodbye to the city, so we decided to take a trolley ride to get a quick glimpse at all we missed.
We sat and relaxed, as we listened to the narration of places like the Rodin Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art (where Rocky bounded up the 76 steps), the Ben Franklin Parkway, the famous Love Sculpture, Antique Row, and so much more. Halfway through our trolley tour, we felt the insatiable urge to have a last taste of Philadelphia for lunch. We ate at the Bourse across from the Liberty Bell -- oh, did I forget to mention that's here, too? We enjoyed a quick lunch in the food court and browsed a little in the shops.
We then hopped on the next trolley and finished the tour passing the Betsey Ross House, Ben Franklin's grave, Chinatown, the U.S. Mint, and Independence Hall.
Our time in Philly seemed short, but we discovered for ourselves a few sights that we would want to explore. More importantly, we learned about quite a few restaurants we are planning to try next time. Recommended to us were: Mustard Greens, on South Second Street for Chinese food; D'Jango's on 4th Street for the European Fare; The Plough and the Stars on Chestnut for Shepherd Pie; Passyunk Avenue for a fish dinner at Overtures; Pasta at Gnocchi's; and Bridget Foy's on South Street for American Fare.
Well, we have big plans ahead of us. Thank goodness that besides being a great place to eat, Philadelphia is also a great place to walk.
Read part 1 | Read part 2
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