ME: 8/4/07 Philly Phire Drill

Marty had made reservations for a guided tour of Independence Hall but we decided to pass that up to spend more time with Tom and Rosemary. One of the cool things the ranger explained to Marty was that without a ticket you couldn't get the full guided tour, but that at 5:00, Independence Hall would be open for Open House for an hour and we could at least get to see it and get the quick tour that way. Shwew! So after lunch we headed back to the general vicinity and went ahead and went through security. We had planned on going to the 4:20 tour of Congress Hall, which would get out at 4:40 and give us plenty of time to be in line for the 5:00 Open House.

We arrived around 4:10 and the ranger at Congress Hall encouraged us to go ahead and look at the building next door that didn't have a tour but that had some important documents in it and was air conditioned. Nice idea! So we went and there was a wonderful ranger there, Tia. She was supposed to be just sitting there and watching to make sure nothing happened but she would answer questions, too. Wow. She had such fascinating and explanatory answers that we just kept asking her questions. It was better than a guided tour, it was almost like living history! Then another ranger came in, whispered in her ear, and she told us that we all needed to exit the building that there was a fire drill.

That's interesting. So we did. It was 4:20! We probably would've stayed in there and missed the 4:20 tour if it hadn't been for the fire drill. All the buildings were evacuated and we all stood in the center area for about 5 minutes, then the all-clear was given and everyone went back in. We headed towards Congress Hall and they let us in for the now delayed 4:20. Our tour guide was knowledgeable but had a very unappealing presentation style. It was pop-quiz style. He would talk a little, then pick someone in the crowd and ask them a question. There were 2 children that he was intimidating with his approach but it was obvious they didn't know the answer to his question about the first President of the US. It was very unpleasant. I was hoping they weren't foreigners visiting our country . . .that would've made a horrible impression. We learned a lot anyway and got to see lots of great stuff, including the first Library of Congress.

Congress Hall Tour