November 2, 2004 -- Political junkies, we feel your pain. We have no idea who will be president when you read this, but we do know you'll be burned out from the 24-hour news cycle.
If you're looking to take a travel break but still have politics on the brain, consider Philadelphia's historic district. We were there a few weeks ago, fleeing New York City during the Republican National Convention. We wanted to distract ourselves from all the security threats and partisan rhetoric but didn't want to completely bury our head in the sand at a beach or a tropical resort.
Instead we took a tour of "America's most historic square mile" and read up on our founding fathers. So while protesters disrupted traffic and blocked subway entrances in Manhattan, we visited Independence Hall. While cable newscasters spun the latest poll data, we toured the Ben Franklin museum. While John McCain traded barbs with Michael Moore we went on the "Lights of Liberty" walking tour and slide show.
We think we stumbled onto something here: Philadelphia as an election year detox. It's an unlikely combo, but you get your political fix while taking a break from the crazy headlines, and you draw some inspiration from the brilliant men that started this 217-year-old experiment we call a Constitutional Republic.
Now's a good time to book a weekend visit, since the tourism bureau is offering a "Philly Overnight" special November 19 through March 26. Book a participating hotel for two nights for two adults, checking in Friday or Saturday, and get what amounts to a respectable 20-40% discount. The Best Western Independence Park Hotel, for example, usually $149 a night, is $234 for the package. Other prices start at $149 for the Comfort Inn Downtown and go up to $389 for the Ritz-Carlton package. See www.gophila.com/accommodations/index-phillyovernight.htm for details.
You can get a another great package deal -- separate from "Philly Overnight" -- at the small but classy Penn's View Inn, where we stayed, near Penn's Landing. They offer two weekend nights for $275, with champagne on arrival and a $70 voucher towards their exceptional Ristorante Panorama and wine bar. Call the inn at 800/331-7634 for details.
Browse through our online coverage of Philadelphia at www.frommers.com/destinations/philadelphia for reviews of hotels, restaurants, attractions, and more, and check out our complete walking tour of the historic district.
Then watch for these highlights of the distraction tour:
- The nifty John Huston film Independence plays free of charge every half hour at the Visitor Center. You'll need to stop here anyway to get tickets to most of the area attractions.
- The Liberty Bell is an icon of freedom, bordering on rock star. Everyone from Susan B. Anthony to the Dali Lama has posed for a photo op. The bell was plagued with cracks from the start but still rang its sweet E flat to announce the inauguration of John Adams in 1797 and the death of George Washington in 1799, among other events.
The inscription -- "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" -- was often invoked by the abolitionist movement.
- Independence Hall is where it all went down in 1776. The delegates convened. They voted to secede. Delaware was tied! They summoned Caesar Rodney, and he made an epic all-night horseback ride from Delaware to cast his vote just in time! The colonies declared themselves The United States of America!
The story behind the Constitution's creation is less dramatic but doubly inspiring. Look around the Assembly Room during the 35-minute tours and marvel at the men who worked together over the summer of 1787 in what John Adams called "the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen."
- Congress Hall housed the U.S. Congress for 10 years, with the House of Representatives on the first floor and the Senate on the second. This is where John Adams succeeded Washington in a historical ceremony, where the Bill of Rights was ratified, and -- less historic -- where Congressmen recessed to take snuff and drink madeira.
- Old City Hall, Philly's second city hall, housed the Supreme Court from 1790 through 1800. Read up on our early justices, including curiosities like Samuel Chase, who was impeached (but not convicted) in 1804 for an alleged partisan bias, and John Blair, who is on record as not saying one word during the Constitutional Convention.
And ask your tour guide about the Election Day battles between the "Proprietary" and "Country" parties at Philly's first city hall, once on 2nd St. near the Delaware River.
- Independence Square saw the first reading of the Declaration of Independence and is now the final stop on the geeky-cool "Lights of Liberty" multi-media walking tour, complete with big, clunky audio headsets, simulated gun battles, and slides projected onto area landmarks. The show runs at night, April through October.
- The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington Square features a flickering eternal flame and a humbling inscription: "Beneath this stone rests a soldier of Washington's army who died to give you liberty."
- Library Hall is a great place to hunker down and read Franklin's will, a copy of William Penn's 1701 Charter of Privileges, and Jefferson's handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson originally found those truths to be "sacred and undeniable" before he decided they were "self-evident."
- Franklin Court features a wooden frame of Ben Franklin's former house, plus an old-fashioned post office and an appropriately quirky and inventive tribute museum. Visit the room of phones and "call" people like Immanuel Kant, who blurts out that Franklin was "the Promethius of his time," then hangs up on you. And did you know that Ben was not merely a delegate, philosopher, and inventor, he was also a printer, balladeer, postmaster general, Mason, cartoonist, and firefighter, among other day jobs? If Franklin's list of accomplishments doesn't inspire you to become a better American, nothing will.
- Christ Church is a stellar piece of English Palladianism architecture with an iconic 196-foot steeple, plus the graves of Franklin and others.
- Take a deep breath before you enter the National Constitution Center. Your carefree stint through 18th Century life comes to an end when you encounter the large billboard survey on the second floor: "When is the United States justified in sending troops to war?" You can write your answer to that and other annoying questions on sticky notes, then tour a variety of hands-on exhibits loosely tied to our national document. You'll have fun calculating your taxes and tracking the history of your voting eligibility, but constitutional ennui sets in after an hour or two.
The best room of the museum is Signer's Hall, which recreates the signing of the Constitution with life-size bronze figures of Washington, Madison and the other delegates. It's amusing to see their likenesses up close and note that a great orator like Alexander Hamilton was actually a short, lizard-like little man, for example, while William Paterson was a snazzily dressed metrosexual of his day.
Then, brace yourself: the museum's adjacent café has two giant jumbotrons simultaneously broadcasting CNN and Fox News side by side. We're not sure if that's supposed to be an ironic commentary on the country's partisan divisions, but it gave us a headache.
If you must eat in the café¿ here, we recommend you head to a bar in Old City afterwards and test out Franklin's theory that "beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Try Fado or Nodding Head Brewery.
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