mybigadventures.com

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!

Happy birthday Danica!

So today is Danica's birthday and she decided she wanted to go to the zoo. Having visited London zoo a few years ago we were left a little unimpressed so we decided to go to ZSL Whipsnade instead. Dani's parents met us there and we had a fantastic day with a real highlight being the elephants on parade (with the elephants taken for a walk holding on to each other using their trunks and tails around the zoo - amazing!)

We got up and showered about 9 AM, packing the remaining few bits before checkout. We took all of our stuff down and checked out, then headed over to the Bell desk for the left luggage store. It was free to leave luggage, so we left everything apart from the camera and Dani’s handbag. Then asked about the shuttle service to the airport. It was going to cost $7 each and they went every half-hour. We decided to aim for the 4 PM shuttle which would get us to the airport in plenty of time for our 7:20 PM flight.

We then headed off to get some breakfast, and decided to go to McDonald’s, upstairs in the resort. Ate and then headed down to the casino to do a bit more gambling. We spent a lot of time between the blackjack table and roulette, with some ups and downs in some large bets on double or quits roulette - I think the largest bet was thirty-two credits (32 times 25 cents equals $8 dollars) - somewhat smaller than when Dani accidentally bet $11 on a single hand of blackjack! We ended up winning some money back today and finished up by about $20!

We walked around to the lobby to see if we could connect to the Internet and ended up connecting outside Starbucks, which was closed. We had a sit at the tables outside Starbucks and caught up on a bit of journal and I wrote a postcard for school - as Tom had requested one from Vegas.

Having posted the postcard and made use of the nearby facilities, we decided it was time to make a move. We went and picked up the luggage and asked at the desk where we needed to go to get the shuttle. Turned out we needed to have booked a ticket - a small, but rather important detail that the other person at the desk had neglected to mention. Either way, the man on the desk said it would be the same price or less to just get taxi - so that’s what we did. We got a taxi from just outside the hotel. The airport is really close and it cost just under $14 to get there. It seemed very quiet with very few cars about and, once inside, there were hardly any people about. We got checked in okay and they put our rucksacks in large plastic bags to protect all the buckles. It turned out we didn’t have to pay for the luggage after all. Before going through security, we sat on a bench in the large empty airport and ate crisps and finished the water and coke we were carrying. We then had to catch a short train to security and the gates. There were a few shops and places to get food in the departure lounge, but not a great deal. There were also a number of slot machines - in case you haven’t had your fix of gambling. There’s free Wi-Fi so we had a sit and I spoke to Lorna on Skype for a short while. We decided to get something to eat as we were feeling quite hungry by this point. We didn’t have a lot of time so we ended up getting a sandwich to share. We went back to the gate and sat down to eat - the sandwich was very deeply filled and ended up being a little messy. About 10 min later, we ended up boarding. We had to queue for a bit, as we were virtually last to board, but we got settled into our seats quickly. We had to pay to watch TV/films - the back of the chair had a swipe card machine embedded to pay - so once with had set off we paid for it on my TV ($5.99) and began to watch ‘42’ - a film about the first black baseball player for the international team in America. Flying out over Vegas night was amazing. Not only could you see the lights of the strip and all of the vast hotels, but we watched the sunset over the mountains, the light reflected in the pools on top of the mountains. It was all a vivid orange and looked beautiful.

We had a complimentary drink and settled down to watch the film. It was literally about 40 min later, when, to our surprise, the final announcement was called - making the final approach into LA. It’d seemed very quick. The landing was very quick - it did feel as if we were coming into land very fast. So, leg one of the journey was complete.

Headed off the plane and into LA airport to await our connection. We were a little surprised by the airport itself - it had a very temporary feel about it and seem to be just departure gates without any shopping or eating facilities. We had hoped for a ‘tat’ shop, as we haven’t been able to get a sew-on badge in LA, to add to our collection, but there was only a very expensive WHSmith- type shop, which did sell ‘tat’, but not what we were looking for.

Decided to investigate a little further and went down an escalator, signing a different terminal. At the bottom an old chap in a buggy asked where we were going. A little anxious that perhaps we were in the wrong place, we just vaguely said we were having a look around, looking for something to eat as we waited for our flight. At this, he offered to drive us to the next place, down a long corridor. Awesome! So we got a ride on one of those golf cart-buggy things! He dropped us off, directing us up the escalators. We got to the top; there was more choice, but, also, no suitable ‘tat’ shops. We settled for McDonald’s, sharing a double cheeseburger meal, as we weren’t sure what the food arrangements for the flight would be. It wasn’t long before our flight was due to start boarding, so we walked back down the long corridor to wait at our gate.

The gate had filled up considerably - people were clearly ignoring the ‘please do not queue until your group is called’ signs - you are assigned a boarding group, here. I think the plane was a little late arriving as boarding started late, although our actual departure time wasn’t really affected. They began to make announcements about how people in group 4 (us) and 5 may want to take advantage of an additional complimentary checked baggage opportunity - basically, they implied they were concerned about the lack of space and needed less carry on. So we checked our little wheelie case, taking the camera bag out to carry on. Boarding was uneventful and we got settled, snuggling under a complimentary blanket. Again, we had to pay for TV/film. Ben decided to get it again, to finish watching the film, but I thought I’d try to sleep. This turned out not to be so easy, however; I had the travel pillow tucked under my chin, but legroom was minimal. I did doze on and off, and Ben eventually tried to sleep as well.