This was for a week long conference for my work. click on each to get a larger photo.

2nd row: Philadelphia has a bigger city hall than any other city in the country. This one is the tallest masonry building in the world. William Penn at the top is 561 feet high. Until 1987 there was a law that no other building was higher than Penn. They were doing renovation, but it was open during the day. I never did tour it. You can see down in row 16 that there are a few buildings newer than 1987.

3rd row: One of the many Ben Franklin statues. half the places in town are named after him. and the view outside my window, day and night. I was on the 25th floor. The building across the street is about 50 floors.

4th row: the Liberty Bell was real crowded. everyone wanted a picture. All over Franklin Square, where most of the good tourist stuff is, there are actors performing the Revolutionary War stuff.

5th row: The first two banks in the country are both in Franklin Square. Also, Ben Franklin started the first fire insurance company in the country. The buildings all look alike though. haha. here's a photo of the second bank.
US coins are made in three cities - San Francisco, Denver and Philadelphia. Really cool tour through the building! I watched through windows as the machines were putting out pallet loads of each coin. No photos inside the federal building of course.

6th and 7th rows: Betsy Ross lived and worked in Philadelphia. The house where she and her husband operated a sewing business is a nice little tourist spot. No photos allowed inside, but there are actors in the front courtyard putting on shows each day.

8th, 9th and 10th rows: Two blocks up from Betsy Ross is the Christ Church burial ground. Washington, Franklin, and the other locals attended this church, and Franklin and 4 other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried there. People throw pennies on Franklin's grave for good luck. The guy said that there are 4000 graves in the cemetery, and they've identified about 1500 of them. I didn't count, but it's hard to believe there are that many there.

11th, 12th, 13th, 14th rows: The Constitution Center is kind of cool. Although they charge $12 to get in, one of the conference vendors had a reception there so we toured for free. They have lifesized bronze statues of all the signers of the Constitution, standing around the room in natural-looking poses.

15th and 16th rows: The American Industrial Hygiene Conference & Expo is why I was in Philadelphia. There was another reception up at the top of one of the hotels. It had a nice view from the big windows. I ran across the Benjamin Franklin bridge one morning to New Jersey. Just after I got there, I strained a hamstring muscle and I had to walk back to the hotel 2 or 3 miles. I don't know what these matching blue towers are, but they're very nice looking. I watched them each day as I walked back to the hotel.

17th, 18th, 19th rows: Hard Rock Cafe is next to the conference center. Independence Hall is the whtere the second Contenental Congress met and signed the Declaration of Independence. The US Constitution was also signed there 11 years later. That last photo is of Washington's chair.

20th and 21st rows: Out front of the Philadelphia Art Museum is the nicest statue I've seen. This Washington Monument, over 100 years old, is bigger than life size.

22nd row: The two people on horseback fighting off the lions flank the big stairs of the Art Museum. These are the steps that Stallone ran up in the Rocky movies. But the Rocky statue is now down below off to the side.

23rd row: This Liberty Bell is made up of Legos. The other piece of art is a rooster, if you look at it long enough.