US East Coast Travelogue 4 - Philadelphia, the City of Declaration of Independence of America!
US East Coast Travelogue 4 - Philadelphia, A city of Declaration of Independence of America, its where it all started!
It was end of May month, days were getting longer, giving ample opportunity for tourists to roam around east coast of United states. After spending 2 days in New York, we had stopped on outskirts of Edison City in New Jersey. City is named after famous electricity bulb inventor ‘Thomas Edison’. From today onwards we were going to start the journey covering 7 states and 4 major cities Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Niagara in New York State and Boston in Massachusetts. As they say, its journey that should be enjoyable and not only the destinations, schedule was jam packed, everyone on the bus was asked to follow strict timelines. Departure to Philadelphia was scheduled at around 6.15AM in morning, no time for lazy mornings, get ready, pack your bags and board the bus was the order. I opened window sliders around 5AM to check Sun rise and to my surprise, sunshine was as if its 8AM in morning. After packing bags we boarded the bus and journey to first destination Philadelphia began.
For someone who has spent 2 years in California, road to Philadelphia was like heaven. Freeway (you can call it Highways also) was lush green on the both the sides, rivers were full of water, there was cold breeze in air and were the light shower in some parts of journey. After 2 years, I had completely forgotten how the greenery looks like? From a city in CA I am, everything is planned, even where, how and which trees should be planted at any section, how much should be the distance between them, city counsel even cut the trees in whole city in shape, so that trees at one section look identical. It was all fake and manipulated nature, sustaining completely on manual efforts. But here, it was as if nature had its own mind, it was free to design its own lands, ponds and rivers; trees were so crowded on the banks of freeway that those were fighting each other for space, whoever had capacity could grow big, summer had made its green leaves more florescent reflecting morning sunshine all around them. Birds were readying their nests for coming generations. Raritan and Delaware rivers were flowing with full capacity and many small tributaries of them were crisscrossing the farm planes, nature was at its best here. You can also spot the American families fishing in these rivers. From the part of India I am, it was soothing for me to see that rivers could run full, all i had seen my life were hardly filled, empty and dirty rivers. But the weather and nature here were so beautiful that even after incomplete sleep last night, i could barely close my eyes.
On the plate in Philadelphia were the famous Independence hall, Liberty bell and City Visitor Center. Short stop of 1.5 Hr to see these places and then journey towards the Washington DC. Philadelphia is one the most important city in US, not only due to its more than $350 billion a year economy but also because this is place where Declaration of Independence was signed by the founding fathers of US and 56 other delegates from 13 states that had won independence from British empire in 1776, declaring themselves as the United States of America and hence calling the building as Independence Hall. More and more states in south and west started joining the alliance afterwords. The Liberty bell, icon of declaration of US freedom is also placed in Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historic Park. It is also debated whether bell was really used for announcement of Independence declaration on July 4, 1776. Their was a short story with a picture of boy telling Bellman to ring the bell after the declaration was signed, getting much appreciation from readers; as a result many newspapers printed the story throughout the nation and thats how ‘Liberty Bell’ made its place in psyche of Americans; stories of it getting passed through generations.
When we reached there around 8AM, it was a bit chilly and light showers had started, giving the perfect weather to enjoy the outing. Thankfully we had the umbrella with us. The moment you step on Independence park and take a look at the buildings around you, it would remind the Benjamin Franklin Glasses chase scenes of ‘National Treasure’ movie of Nicolas Cage. Old red brick structure with clock tower still looks beautiful in middle of glassy town. That area itself sets it apart and distinctive among the surrounding. Statue of George Washington stands next to Independent hall with lot of pride. One thing I was missing here is patriotic songs. If you are an Indian, you wake to these songs every year on 15 August and 26 January. Mostly it would be Lataji’s ‘Ae Mere Vatan Ke Logo’ at 6 AM to wake you up. All children and Govt officers rush to school and offices for Flag hosting ceremony, taking rest of the day off. Even if there were no songs here, no children carrying small national flags, there was still patriotism in air but a bit different here. Americans were standing in queue next Liberty bell center, Visitor center to get pass to visit national icons of Independence Hall and Liberty Bell center. A father was telling the history of Independence from British to his kids, pointing towards Washington statue. In a chilly morning, kids with blank face, didn’t knew what they were up to today. Unlike Indians being in all ‘White’ dresses, Americans were in their casuals with aim of introducing history to their next generation. Visitor center nearby had paintings of Franklin era town pictures from different artists depicting how the area around Independence Hall was a bustling city market place, how people used to do business, how the houses and colonies’ structures were, among these clearly visible was the Victorian era apparel style of men and women, also distinct apart from all was the portrait of Hall when Benjamin Franklin and other delegates signed the declaration of Independence.
After spending 1.5 hrs at the location, we had breakfast in nearby Chinese restaurant; no matter where you go in US today, you will find Chinese occupying spaces near to iconic landmarks. $8 trillion economy of their speaks loud and clear. Even when we were entering this heritage area, we saw a place decorated to celebrate some Chinese day.
It was time to depart to Washington DC. While existing Philadelphia, you can still see today some old houses, colonies of red bricks, but when you hit the freeways, all you would see is tall and glassy downtown of Philadelphia on the banks of Schuylkill River. Delaware river, keeps you company while existing but on other side, on the banks of her where Atlantic Ocean meets, you would see one of the biggest Shipyard of America, where old US military ships undergo refitting to be sold to other countries. Bridges, rail roads, freeways, factories, sports centers, whole infrastructure of America was on display on this route. But the fact today is, even all this infrastructure is overcrowded now and America needs to build more.
Its beautiful drive from Philadelphia, flooded with trees, greenery, farm lands, ponds and rivers. It was the fourth state that we had entered since our journey - California, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Next place was the country capital of America and political capital of the whole world - Washington DC. Expectations were very high, its the place you read and see in news worldwide, even if a pin drops in DC, its echo is heard in all capitals of world, that big is the importance of this place, cherry on the cake, we were going to visit it on Memorial day.
Thank you for reading this blog, wanna join my journey from the beginning? you can read below blogs -
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