CRACKED AND MORE CRACKED ... IN PHILADELPHIA!

Philadelphia is steeped in history. Everywhere you look, there are plaques commemorating historic milestones. Take the corner of Chestnut and Juniper, for example. This was the site where America's oldest surviving photograph was taken on September 25, 1839. Flash forward more than 170 years and what do you have? Me, my Spycam and "Murray the Moron." Look closely at the photo above, and you might notice that "Murray" was harboring a soft drink in his groin. There he stood -- on the very spot where the first photo was taken in the United States -- balancing what looked like a plastic bottle of lemonade -- or perhaps it was a urine sample -- between his legs and laughing like a hyena. He looked like an executive on his lunch break, but he was obviously cracked ...!

Speaking of cracked, no visit to Philadelphia would be complete without a trip to the Liberty Bell. I made a beeline there after my meetings ended today. Legend has it the Liberty Bell was used to summon the citizens of Philadelphia for the very first public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8, 1776. The bell itself has been cracked ever since its first "test" ringing when it arrived in Philadelphia in 1752. But what do you expect ... they only paid 100 pounds for it!



I made a quick stop at Independence Hall -- where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were debated and adopted -- and continued walking due East through the city's cultural district, towards the waterfront and Delaware River.

I walked across Penn's Landing until I got to the Nina and the Pinta. Yes, it was that Nina and Pinta. Life-sized replicas of Columbus' ships are docked right near the Korean and Vietnam War Memorials and just across the river from New Jersey. Columbus never had it so good!


I finished my walk with a stroll through Society Hill, a neighborhood of quiet, tree-lined streets and rowhouses dating from the 1700's. Many of the homes here belonged to notable figures in the American Revolution and everyday tradesmen who no doubt prospered -- like their neighbor Benjamin Franklin -- by going early to bed and being early to rise. One thing's for sure, I doubt any of them hid plastic bottles of lemonade in their groin ...!