This is my fourth time to Philadelphia. I was here a few years ago. At that time I wanted to visit the national memorial of Benjamin Franklin, the person of history that I admire the most. I also wanted to photograph the campus of the University of Pennsylvania which would complete my visiting the campuses of all eight of the Ivy League Schools.

However, that day I had just flown into National Airport in D.C. and was to drive through Baltimore then on to Philadelphia. I had to be at Valley Forge before they closed at 5:00 pm. Thanks to a heavy long-lasting storm that stretched from at least D.C. to Philadephia that Friday, plus Baltimore was having some huge special festival that weekend, thus, thousands and thousands of cars clogged the interstate in the heavy downpour, I had to skip Philadelphia that day, get off the interstate, and go on to Valley Forge before closing time.

This time I planned to visit the two places I missed back then plus visit several other historic places. Some of these additional places are part of the National Park Service -- Independence Hall (which I had seen before), the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, and, the Edgar Allen Poe House. I also wanted to visit the nearby Betsy Ross House (and wonder why it is not a part of the national park system).

When I was first in town, I noticed how easy it was to get around despite streets being one-ways and very narrow (with parking on both sides) and sometimes old brick streets (which are never smooth in any city thanks to settling over the decades. And many intersetions were four-way stops which meant minimal time stopped. However, as I made my way into the old downtown section where all of the historical sites are, my opinion changed. Too many pedistrians meant it was difficult to turn at an intersection because only one car per green light cycle got to turn. This was all on Day One. For the day last day on this trip, I planned to visit Ben Franklin's National Memorial.

Still, I made my way to at least the outside of the famous places I wanted to see. Too little time to go inside each plus parking was a challenge so someitmes I parked for three minutes in a spot that was not supposed to be a parking spot just to get a photo. Like New York City, this town will mean a return visit and stay at a local hotel and take local transportation, or walk, to the sites.

Both Bartrams and Japanese House and Garden were much smaller than I expected. I thought they were both all about large beautiful gardens. Bartrams was all about his house in the late 1700's including the trees that were alive since then. The Japanese Gardens was really small, basically a body of water with some fish, a little island and a small waterfall.