Tucking in Philadelphia

I grew up in a town so small, my mom liked to say we rolled the streets in at night.  But that's not what I mean by tucking in Philadelphia.  I'm thinking about educational tours and particularly two of the most popular ones - New York City and Washington D.C. educational tours.  If you're planning on visiting one of these east coast cities, consider tucking in Philadelphia to the itinerary, especially if your tour is history-based.

If you need entertainment inspiration for this, think National Treasure.  Remember when the characters knew they had to go to the Liberty Bell but then they realized the clue would not actually be with the bell, it would be in the place where the bell originally hung?  If you don't know that the answer to that clue is Independence Hall than you have either never visited Philadelphia or perhaps not seen that movie enough.

Visiting the settings for important events in our history is what educational travel is all about.  Once you've seen the liberty bell and heard its story, you won't forget where it once hung.  And you can decide for yourself what you believe about its history and whether or not it was truly rung to announce the first reading of our Declaration of Independence.  Whether that story is fact or merely fiction, the inscription on the bell certainly tells the story of our amazing country - as do so many of the sites in Philadelphia's Old City.  The Betsy Ross House, Franklin Court, and Congress Hall - this city is the birthplace of our government.  Imagine visiting these sites on the same tour in which you take in the impressive Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. and see how far we have come.

That's why Philadelphia deserves a spot in student tours.  It's always moving to see where wonderful things began.