Odds and Ends

I am one of those people who are intrigued by odd things. One of those things was the vast array of architectural styles in the area. I was fascinated by the row houses. To qualify, your house is about 20 to 25 feet in width and built up against the house next door. But to be a true row house, you can't have any front yard (and possibly no backyard either). From your front door, you step directly onto the sidewalk. Now, if you have a front yard, then you are considered a townhouse. But that front yard is about the size of a postage stamp. No grass, just a few feet to plant some flowers. This street which is the oldest continually inhabited neighborhood (1736) in Philidelphia had a street maybe wide enough for a small car and was made of brick, cobblestone, and cement. One of these homes was for sale for a mere $600,000+. And it needed some help. Location, location, location.

When we entered Philadelphia, I found Colonial, Greek, Federal style, and modern architecture all mashed together in the same area. They used lots of limestone as the whole area is covered in it. But no building is allowed to be taller than the statue of William Penn atop City Hall.

The wall of an old building in Lancaster, on which you could see the bullet holes from the battle of Gettysburg, brought the actual battle to life. Can you imagine being in the middle of all of that?

I also learned to not judge a book by its cover. The places I expected the most from were a disappointment, the places I expected the least from delivered in a big way. The ghost tour of Lancaster's back alleys in the dark was unexpected and enlightening. Not scary stories so much as historical and interesting.

I had looked forward to the underground railroad tour. While the history was interesting, I found it to be political in a back handed sort of way. Not what I was expecting. All though the messages they sent between escaping slaves through the hymns they sang was fascinating.

The Sight and Sound Theater was everything I expected and more. I've never been in a theater when there was dead silence from the crowd when it was over. No one had words to describe the experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, I took a friend, and we saw it in the theater last night. It was just as good, but with a slightly different perspective in that they filmed closeups of the actor's faces.

I learned how to make chocolate, not in Hersey, Pennsylvania, but in the courtyard of Betsy Ross's home. A costumed enactor took us from the plant to the fruit, to the beans and finally to chocolate. Very labor-intensive work back in that day.

The most fun I had in a museum was in the children's section of the Revolutionary War Museum. Everything was touchable and laid out in simple terms. You could try on the costumes, handle the tools, dishes, etc. Maybe I'm reverting to childhood but learn best by being involved. We had a lot of laughs. Some skunk gave his all for this hat.

My favorite fountain, and there were many, was in Betsy's backyard. Cats! How fun is that.

The tour was great fun. I left with a group of strangers. But, over the course of several days, we became friends and discovered mutual acquaintances in our past, some in Colorado from 45 years back and some from Glenns Ferry. It truly is a small word.

I think everyone was pleased with our excellent driver, Tim, (who bought a copy of my book) and is now in charge of east coast marketing.....whether he knows it or not! He took us places no bus had ever been before. And probably shouldn't have been at that point either.

Kathy, our tour guide was wonderful, fun, knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor.

I have decided that when I grow up, I'd like to be a tour guide. Dress up every day, tell tall tales to groups interested in history, culture, everything. It seems to be a great way to make a living.

Hope you have enjoyed the tour with me.

Let's do it again sometime.