You’re Going To Learn A Lot! Philadelphia & Later A Pretzel Tour

We left early in the morning for our 1-1/2 hour drive east to Philadelphia and got there about 8:30 a.m. We saw an underground parking garage under the Independence Visitor Center but it looked like a sharp turn at the bottom. Our truck is a Ram 3500, king cab, with long bed. We kept driving, thinking maybe we could find on street parking. Over a few streets at 4th St between Chestnut and Walnut we found a great spot. Get the app and pay. You pay for 2 hours and then can add time, which is good. Then we walked 1 block north and turned left on Market St, then right on Independence Mall. We were surprised to see some tall fencing being put up and police cars parked with flashing lights blocking some streets. We wondered if there was an event or something that would interfere with our looking around today. Hope not. 

Presidents House Site is where George Washington and John Adams lived and worked here creating the office of the president. The brochure tells us “Washington’s large staff included at least nine enslaved Africans. Adams never owned slaves.” I like how they have beams going up in the shape of where the building was. 

Next we went across the street and around this tall fencing that was being put up to Independence Visitor Center. We asked the ranger what the fencing is for. He said they were all quite surprised to see it this morning; it is for the presidential debate this coming Tuesday with Trump and Harris. It will be right next door at the National Constitution Center. Ohhhh, glad we aren’t coming here that day. After Kevin got some info I suggested to him that we go to the Liberty Bell right now because I was seeing a lot of people. He laughed and said the ranger had just suggested that, too. (I am deaf, so I didn’t hear the ranger.) 

State House Bell, Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA 09/24

We walked down a block to Liberty Bell Center. I remember seeing the Liberty Bell years ago with my family and Kevin was here with a college music traveling group.  We got through security quickly and passed up the displays to go right to the bell because the place was filling up with people. Then we went back and read the displays. HA The bell was first hung in 1753 and used to call the Pennsylvania Assembly together in the State House. In the 1830s abolitionists who were fighting to end slavery named it the “Liberty Bell.” It cracked in the early 1840s, probably a narrow split after almost 90 years of being used. The city decided to repair the bell in 1846 for the celebration of George Washington’s birthday. The thin crack was widened to stop it from spreading more and to restore the bell’s tone. The repair job is actually the wide “crack!” It didn’t work and another crack stopped any further sound. 

Photo From Kevin: Charla, Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA 09/24

Display says, “Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that the Bell rang on July 4, 1776, to proclaim independence. In fact, by 1776 the heavy Bell, swinging and vibrating with sound, threatened to topple the rotting State House steeple.” In 1777, the bell was remove and hidden just before the British captured Philadelphia. 

As we exited the building, Kevin saw a rat run across the sidewalk. Eeek! Glad I didn’t see it. We then went back to Independence Visitor Center and looked at the information displays. 

Benj. Frankling Bache Privy Pit, Oh My! Philadelphia, PA 09/24

Next we walked to Franklin Court and Market Street Houses. Benjamin Franklin owed a large house here. We walked under a curved brick-lined arch way. The sign said it is the original archway that Franklin would have gone through. Behind it is the outline of steel beams of the house, including chimneys. Kevin wanted to first see the printing press and as we did, we passed this whole cement circle surrounded by red brick that says, “Benj. Franklin Bache Privy Pit 1787 322 Market St.” HAHA Why oh way was THAT preserved! HAHA Kevin thought it was funny and did the “sitting” position of which a quickly snapped a picture. (We didn’t cross over the rope line, it is there to guide you to the building.)

Inside the building of “printing off and bindery” we watched two National Park Service (NPS) rangers tell about the printing press and then they demonstrated it by printing the Declaration of Independence. The one thing I learn was that the paper was made of cotton and had to hang on a rod under the ceiling for a day or two to dry.

The museum in the basement of the NPS was good size, flowed well, and had good information. Benjamin Franklin had a lot of great ideas and inventions and we use a lot of his ideas today. He saw room for improvement everywhere he looked. A few things: better street light design, bifocals, lending libraries, firefighting, fire insurance companies, schools for enslaved children, Franklin Stove, and more. He designed the “Join, or Die” cartoon and published it to try to get the colonies to join together against the French 1754. The symbol was later used to show strength against England. Franklin was postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737 and later became co-Postmaster General for the British 1747-1774. He improved areas such as delivery routes, bookkeeping, and more. He was Postmaster General for the Continental Congress 1775-1776. 

Independence Hall Tour, Philadelphia, PA 09/24

Now it was time to walk a few blocks for our 1:00 p.m. timed ticket tour of Independence Hall. It was good I got our $1.00 timed tickets the other day; the sign said no available tickets today. I knew from my research that there are information papers for those of us who are deaf and taking the tour. We asked one of the rangers and she said she would go get it. Soon she brought over several papers so I could learn. She said that it wasn’t the wording the volunteer guide would say but it was the information. I understand that and it is fine. (Also, all videos everywhere we went here had captions. This place gets an A.) 

Reconstructed Assembly Hall, Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA 09/24

This place used to be called Pennsylvania State House; it was the Pennsylvania capitol building from 1732 to 1799. The capital was then moved to Lancaster. The building housed the Assembly Building, Supreme Court Chamber, and the Governor’s Council Chamber. This building was one of the largest in the 13 colonies. The first bell that was hung in the tower later became known as the Liberty Bell. Since this was the largest city and central of the colonies, the Continental Congress met here in 1775.  Later they adopted the Declaration of Independence here on July 2, 1776 (NOT a typo!). Independence Hall also served as the capitol building for most of the Revolutionary War.  Four years after the war ended the Constitutional Convention of 55 delegates met and planned the new government here. On Sept 17, 1787 the Constitution was agreed upon. Philadelphia was the capital of the United States from 1790-1800 while Washington, D.C. was being built. 

We wanted to eat a Philly Cheesesteak IN Philly and we found Campo’s Philly Cheesesteaks.  There was outdoor seating and inside it is very narrow with a few small tables and chairs. Oh boy, we scored here! The Philly Cheesesteak was perfectly delicious! Rated: Every Time We Want A Philly Cheesesteak And Don’t Want To Make It Ourselves, Come Here! 

As we enjoyed eating, sitting right next to the large open window, it suddenly got very dark. It was just after 2:00 p.m. Oh dear. We still wanted to see Benjamin Franklin’s grave, Betsy Ross’ house, and the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary Soldier. We headed out and it immediately started pouring rain. We didn’t have our raincoats with us because the forecast had called for slight rain when we were on our tour earlier at 1:00 p.m. That didn’t happen. We quickly ducked into a store’s covered entrance and waited. It was sheets of rain and soon the sidewalks and street were gushing rivers of water. Do we wait? How long will this last? Let’s add more time to our parking meter on the phone. We were able to add time earlier. Well, it wouldn’t let us. Turns out you can only add to it one time; we saw we only had 13 minutes left of the timer and 8 minutes to walk, according to maps. We decided to go for it and stepped out in the rain. It was raining so hard and pelting us but we didn’t want a parking ticket. The rain was so hard that even with my glasses on, I could hardly open my eyes. Kevin had his hat so that helped him. I will admit, this wasn’t fun! By the time we got to the truck the time had run out. We decided to leave because we couldn’t park in this spot and the area was very busy and no parking spots around that we could see. It is fine, we felt we got to see what we really wanted to see and thankful for that. When we got home (footnote 1) we were still soaked to the skin, all over, literally. Well, that is a memory! HA

Pretzel Brick Ovens, Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, Lititz, PA 09/24

The next day: We knew this area is famous for their soft pretzels and thought a tour would be fun. I booked tickets the other day for us, the last two tickets available for today. Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery in Lititz. It is only about 1/2 hour from our campground. We have been through this town several times in passing. The historical main street has cute shops. We got parked easily on the street and was happy to see that parking is free on Sundays. There were a lot of people around this area today. We walked along looking at the old houses; some are private homes and some are businesses. Back to the bakery for our 1:00 p.m. tour. It only cost $5.50 each. Julius Sturgis bought this house (still original) in 1861 and started the first commercial pretzel bakery in America. The Sturgis family is still the oldest pretzel baking family in the United States. The tour went inside the bakery where we see a red brick wall with four openings plus a door for stacks of wood. The wood burning oven would be at 500° and pretzels would cook 6-8 minutes for the soft ones. For the hard ones, they would be raised to the ceiling in boxes and cooked for several hours at 250°. 

I Twisted A Pretzel, Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, Lititz, PA 09/24

The guide lead us to a table where there was a square of dough. We were to roll it out to the length of a stick, maybe a foot, foot and a 1/2 long. Then he told us how to twist and wrap it around. That was really fun and turned out great. Over to the brick wall next and the guide put a pretzel on a long wooden paddle and had a young girl helper from the tour help him push the paddle into the oven. We learned that this huge oven isn’t used anymore. Around 1968, the wall actually cracked and we can see the crack. 

Now This Cooks The Pretzels, Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, Lititz, PA 09/24

Now the pretzels are cooked in a modern pizza oven right there. HA We saw a modern pretzel dough twister machine – it can twist 40 in a minute! The tour lasted about 1/2 hour and then we went into the gift shop. We bought some cinnamon pretzel sticks. They aren’t coated with cinnamon, the cinnamon is in the dough. Very good and not messy. HAHA We also bought some hot, fresh soft pretzels and took them outside to eat. Delicious! Super fun, nice day.

And Now We Get To Eat One! Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, Lititz, PA 09/24

As we drove home, Kevin pointed out a changing billboard that said something about a quilt show. I looked it up and what do you know…American Quilters Society (largest group of quilters in US) is having one of their quilt weeks here. This coming Wed-Sat…and in Manheim! That is the town our campground is in. What do you know!!!

1. “Home” is where we park it. Home is our 2022 Alliance Avenue, 36 ft, 5th wheel.