Tuesday morning's schedule was a little more lax, especially compared to Monday's. The buses departed from the hotel parking lot at 9 o'clock as we embarked on the Philadelphia portion of our tour.
On the way to The City of Brotherly Love, we rode on the Schuylkill Expressway - a familiar route to the Orr family as the road we traveled to visit our Grandparents in Newtown, Pa. As some landmarks began to look familiar, I asked Dad if we were actually on the Schuylkill.
"Of course," he replied. "Can't you tell? We're stopped!"
The Schuylkill is known for its traffic - and we had hit the tail-end of the AM rush hour.
Christ's Church was very impressive - inside and out with its grand architecture and steeple, iron gates and brick paving. Inside were rows of old pews with name plates marking the presidential pew where the Washington family and other presidents sat when in the old city. The Franklin family pew was also marked where Ben Franklin joined his family when he wasn't away in Europe for political business. Above the center of the aisle was a beautiful chandelier which is lit entirely by candles for funerals and weddings as it was lit for Franklin's daughter on her wedding day. In the aisle itself were Memorial stones marking the bodies of deceased church members who had a profound influence on the church. In the back stood the the original baptismal font from which William Penn was baptized as an infant into the Church of England. The font was given many years ago on loan until Christ's Church "no longer needed it." No other conditions were given on the loan, and here the font still stands.
Our tour guide for the church was wonderfully engaging and told all these and many other stories to us.
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