Travelling to Philadelphia we went through/entered the next states in our “tour” of the USA, New Jersey and Pennsylvania (states number 4 and 5). We detoured, as we do, to the “singing rocks”. An area of naturally occurring rocks in the forest that, when hit with something hard 🔨, ring like metal. Very odd! We also stopped for a coffee in small town America. This time a small town that looked liked something out of a 1950s advert for the best place to live!! Slightly unnerving but nice people.

Philadelphia is probably the best place we’ve been in the states so far. Steeped in history, not particularly high rise and generally pleasant. Standing in the same rooms as independence (read treason) was debated, voted on by the 13 colonies that would become states, where the Declaration was drafted/debated/signed, where the constitution was written (and changed a lot) and where Congress first sat, was very thought provoking. The original things, like the chair George Washington sat in and church pews that Benjamin Franklin sat in (and sitting in said pews) enhanced that.

The liberty bell is actually far less than we perceive it to be. It was not rung to declare independence and in fact has far more to do with events that happened in the 250 years after that. Even the name wasn’t used until long after independence!

Whilst in Philadelphia we decided we couldn’t be that close to Atlantic City and not visit. We have always maintained that it is the poor country cousin of Las Vegas, so perhaps we were wrong? We weren’t. What a very, very odd place. Maybe 20-30 years ago it was vibrant, busy etc., now it is dying. The boardwalk is pleasant, except for the tat shops and closed down casinos along it’s length. Even the Casinos we recognise, like Caesars, are a poor relation. It is like Skegness or Scarborough, American style.

We left Philadelphia and headed for Washington DC, adding the state of Connecticut to our list, and whatever DC actually is (it’s not a state we realise). On the way we stopped in rural Pennsylvania at a lovely little town called……Intercourse 🤭. Nobody there appeared to realise! After we stopped giggling, we took note of the Amish people in the town. There are 44k Amish in Pennsylvania and they live side by side with everyone else, who they call “English” 😄. We visited an Amish “museum”. It is actually a homestead and school house that is now maintained for tourists, with knowledgeable guides and all the original Amish tools and things. It is not run by the Amish, for obvious reasons, rather for them, but it is real. Our conclusion…..there is a lot to be said for the Amish way of life.

Having arrived in Washington DC we have come to the conclusion that it is now a city of huge contradiction. On the one hand there is a real and genuine strive for knowledge and understanding, that is not related to the US god that is money. They maintain fantastic free museums and libraries, free tours of government buildings, beautiful parks and other green spaces, wonderful monuments and architecture etc. etc. They have lots of knowledgeable volunteers wanting you to have a good time and learn, and they are genuinely keen to meet people from other parts of the world.

On the other hand, the current US executive (read King and his lackeys) is acting in a totally contradictory way. A good example of this is the White House currently. We decided to go and see it (not tour it). Turns out that to see it is pretty difficult these days. Under the pretext of the lie that is “making improvements” (🙄) they have erected a 2m high black steel fence and concrete blocks all around the area the White House is in, and a long way from the house itself. It is (supposedly) temporary but it is exactly the approach you would expect to see if you visited a dictators compound in South America or Africa! There is definitely no way the people can currently bother their president with something irrelevant like protest/free speech, unless he wants them to. A total and complete contradiction to all we have learnt since we arrived in the US.

Onward in Washington DC tomorrow, then off to Norfolk Virginia on Tuesday to stay with friends 🙂.