Philly Pass and Paid Attractions, and a baseball game

Battleship New Jersey

There is a lot to do in Philly. You can take in the highlights of Independence Hall and all the historical stuff. I'd wager almost all tourists go to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.  However, Philly is a city that clearly wants tourists to visit. They give people plenty to do. There are art museums, historical museums, professional sports, zoo, aquarium and many other attractions that will help you part with your money.

Happily, you can go to  many attractions for one price. The Pilly Pass works like this; you buy a pass for as many days as you'd like, 1,2,3,5 days. Passes start at $59 and go up the longer you use it. The great thing about it is, you can choose to go to as many attractions as you can fit into your day. As I mentioned, we bought a three day pass, the cost (seemingly, perpetually on sale) was $89 each. In three days we went to $235 worth of attractions (each). When you go to a ticket booth, they take your pass and scan it. Then they give it back to you along with a ticket. It is that simple. We bought the pass online and picked them up on Monday. The pass doesn't start getting used until you use it the first time. Meaning my three days of use don't start until I use it. I can pick it up anytime but the particular days are not reserved.

http://www.philadelphiapass.com/En/

Nile Crocodile at the
Philadelphia Zoo

Attractions- I'm going to do a quick write up for anyone that may be interested in Philly. I'm going to save art museums for a later post. Remember these are just one man's opinions. Just because I thought something was really fun doesn't mean you will.

Philadelphia Zoo- The zoo is the oldest zoo in the country. It is pretty big. Since there is so much to see in the city we kind of rushed through it. Since we went to Southwick Zoo last week, we didn't stop at the really common animals for long. How many lemurs can you really see in a week? The zoo does have a large primate building and a big cat area. There are tons on different monkeys. There is a bird house and a small mammal house. There is a predator area which I thought was highlighted by Giant River Otters from South America

Sharks swim right over you at Adventure Aquarium

Aquarium- You have to cross the Delaware River to get to the Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey. Again, I've been to aquariums, so I wasn't going to stay hours at the coral reef tank. Still, there are some pretty cool highlights. The aquarium has hippos. There are multiple feeding times throughout the day. There is also a shark tunnel. This is a huge tank with  a tunnel going through it for you to walk through. the sharks swim right over you. Really neat. Adventure aquarium also has the only captive Giant Hammerhead in America. Then you had basic aquarium tanks. Pretty large aquarium.

Battleship New Jersey- This battleship was active from WWII until the 1990's. It is the most decorated battleship in US history. The tour is self guided, you follow a red line through the ship. It is gigantic. If you have been to Battleship Cove in Fall River, the NJ is larger. It was also fit with tomahawk cruise missiles which I thought were awesome.

Riverlink Ferry- To get to and from Camden we took the Riverlink Ferry. The ferry ports at Penn Landing in Philly and right next to the aquarium in Camden. The ride is about 20 minutes. It could be quicker if it went straight across the river. Instead it takes the scenic route. From Philly it goes upriver a bit and you get a great view of the Ben Franklin Bridge. On the way back it goes downriver and goes right along the battleship. I got some good pictures and really liked taking the ferry.

Big Bus Company- With the Philly Pass we could ride the Big Bus two out of our three days. There are multiple tour bus companies, but this one was free with the pass. The buses run every 20-25 minutes and you can hope on and off as you wish. They go through the tourist loop and by some damn good food options. The tours are narrated. They are two stories with the top being open air. It is tall enough where I had to duck small tree branches which I thought was fun. We were sad when our two days were up. Really liked the narrated ride.

Betsy Ross House

Betsy Ross House- The Betsy Ross House is only $5 without the pass but it is included. Betsy Ross sowed the flag for Washington. I had pictured a little old lady but she was only 24 at the time.  The house (which may be a replica) is self guided. You see where and how she lived. Betsy is also buried at the site.

One Liberty Observation Deck- In downtown is a skyscraper that you can take an elevator to the top. Like the Prudential in Boston, the view is very awesome. You can see the whole city. We stayed up top for over an hour taking in the view.

Franklin Institute-  This is Philly's Museum of Science. We only went in for a short time. It was late and we were hungry. It had many different rooms dedicated to astronomy, electricity, the heart, the brain, etc. Honestly, we did not see enough to form an opinion. All we really did was go to the planetarium and watch the show. We both love planetariums, so we made a point to check it out. The topic was the night sky. It was well done.

Ghost Tours of Philly- this is your typical ghost tour. It starts around dusk and goes by haunted houses. It lasted about 90 minutes. I don't believe in ghosts, but enjoyed the stories

Grimm Tour- This is another ghost tour. This one, however, is R-rated. The guide tells stories about brothels, ghosts, and murders. The tour lasted two hours. If you only have time for one, this is the more fun ghost tour.

We did all these things with the Philadelphia Pass along with three art museums (later post). There were plenty of other things we did not do that were lower on our list or ran out of time. For example, the Eastern State Penitentiary is very popular. The National Liberty Museum and National Constitution Center were both on our list but we just didn't make it. There are historic walking tours, tours of the Phillies stadium, and tours of murals through the city. There is a museum with a large fossil collection and many other cool attractions. The Philly Pass really was a great bargain.

British Dragoon at the Museum of the
American Revolution

Museum of the American Revolution-

This is a new museum that just opened up in April. It is not part of the Philly pass. The admission fee is $20. The museum, in case you hadn't figured it out is about the American Revolution. It is set up room to room from the beginning of the war to the end. There are artifacts from many major battles. The highlight of the museum is, by far, Washington's tent that was used as his headquarters when in the field. I suggest seeing this museum just for that.

View from our seats

Phillies vs. Cubs Baseball Game-

While we were in Philly the World Series champions were in town to play the dreadful Phillies. Laurie actually wanted to go to the game more than me. I'd have been content to sit at the motel our last night and relax. We ended up buying tickets and I'm glad we did. Lincoln Financial Field is awesome. It is a state of the art ballpark and makes the green ballpark in the Back Bay of Boston look like a dump. We got seats behind home plate but pretty high up. They were still really nice, and half the price for the same tickets at Fenway. We didn't eat much at the game because we had gotten food at the Reading Market. The Phillies got off to a 6-2 lead after two innings so the game wasn't that good, but it was really fun to be there.

The Philly Fanatic is really entertaining

The Philly skyline is over the outfield wall