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<blockquote data-quote="BillB" data-source="post: 119782" data-attributes="member: 9985"><p>Few people planning a holiday in the US consider Pennsylvania as a must-see destination, but there is a great deal of interest. It’s just that Pennsylvania doesn’t go in much for self-promotion. Which is a pity because the variety is enormous – first the historical Pennsylvania, then the physical Pennsylvania of forests, canyons and caverns. And then there’s all the other neighbouring states and their places of interest.</p><p>Over two visits we’ve made some pretty wide sweeps and taken in a lot. Our friends, Jim and Pat, thought we would find Philadelphia interesting and they were absolutely correct. This is the city where the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were drafted and the Independence Hall is where they were signed. It is where the Liberty Bell hangs for visitors to see, and to observe the large crack that runs down it.</p><p>Philadelphia means “brotherly love” in ancient Greek, and was founded by William Penn, who hoped that the city would serve as an example of liberty and religious tolerance. He is to be seen to this day, standing atop a tall pillar in the centre of the city. For many years it was forbidden to build a structure higher than William Penn, though practicality has since overridden that idea.</p><p>We took the “duck tour” – a city tour in a vehicle that was based on the WW2 DUKW, a type of landing craft that could drive straight up the beach as it had both seagoing and landgoing capabilities. This is, I must confess, somewhat touristy, but a great deal of fun and very informative, nevertheless. And after driving around the Philadelphia landmarks and historical sights, the vehicle drives sedately down a slipway and takes you for a cruise on the Delaware River.</p><p>Not far inland from Philadelphia is Valley Forge, where George Washington wintered with his army during the War of Independence. It was a bitterly cold winter and the army was ill-equipped to withstand it. It was probably the lowest point for these men in the entire war. Today it is worth visiting as a site of historical significance alone, yet there is more here. Passing around the site one is overcome with a feeling of serenity and calm. It’s a beautiful area, and even more beautiful in the Spring when the boxwood and dogwood trees are in blossom. The museum at the entrance gives the visitor fascinating insights into how the army withstood that terrible winter, despite losing thousands of men to frostbite and starvation.</p><p>Jim and Pat live on the border of Lancaster County, which has a large Amish population. The Amish are also called Pennsylvania Dutch, although this is due to a mishearing as they were of German origin and the English speakers in the local communities misheard the word “Deutsch” meaning German, for Dutch. The Amish were stuck with the name Pennsylvania Dutch for centuries.</p><p>The Amish still live as the original Amish migrants lived – they wear 19th century clothes, live without electricity, any kind of engine, tractors, telephones or computers. They get around in horse-drawn buggies, or oddly enough, adult-sized foot-powered scooters, but not bicycles. Their clothes are held together with straight pins as they regard buttons as personal adornment. You can see them driving their horse-drawn ploughs in the fields. The women pull their hair tightly back into a bun, which leads to their hairlines receding as they grow older, under the stress of the tightness applied. They refuse to pay taxes or to serve in the armed forces, and the US government gave up forcing them as they also refuse to accept any form of money from the government, including pensions or farm subsidies. Their laws say that their farms must be divided equally among the children when the patriarch dies, which has resulted in the farms growing ever smaller until they reach a point where they are unviable as they are too small to support a family. As a consequence, to earn sufficient to live, they have branched out into furniture making and house building. Our friend Jim had a TV cabinet built by them and he says the workmanship is superb. He also told us that the houses built by the Amish are immaculate in their handicrafts.</p><p>The main town in the Amish area is called Intercourse, (all the jokes have been made) which comes from the two roads that meet in the town and resulted in people from other townships arriving there to meet.</p><p>On another occasion we all drove to Gettysburg to tour the battlefield. We had heard that the museum in Gettysburg sold a CD which conducted you around the battlefield, explaining what happened in each spot and even telling you when to stop the disc and when to turn it back on. To anyone with the slightest interest in history, this is a tour that will keep you engrossed all day. You can spend as long as you like at any one spot.</p><p>We stopped at the Seminary which saw the opening moves in what was to prove one of the biggest battles of the American Civil War, then moved on around the national park, stopping at Little Round Top and Big Round Top, where the Confederates attacked uphill, only to be driven back by the Federal troops several times until the Northerners broke the Southern troops with a suicidal downhill charge. We stopped at the Peach Orchard and the Wheatfield, ending at Cemetery Ridge where 12,500 Confederate troops attacked the centre of the Northerners’ line in what became known as Pickett’s Charge. They advanced out of the woods and began to advance up the gentle slope, all the while under intense rifle and artillery fire. They reached the Northern lines, but were repulsed. This effectively ended the battle. You can stand today where the Federal troops had their line and look down at the field where their opponents advanced into withering fire. It’s a moving sight even on a peaceful day with the sun shining. Monuments and memorials are dotted around the battlefield, dedicated to commanders or whole regiments who performed acts of courage.</p><p>On a lighter note, on Saturday mornings there is a market held in Lancaster County called the Green Dragon Market. We tootled along for breakfast one weekend and treated ourselves to eggs, bacon, home fries and toast. Nowadays I have to pass on the home fries and toast. Jim had warned us in advance that the hillbillies started in Pennsylvania and there were certainly plenty of them at the market. Jackie was seated next to a group of men, all eating breakfast with their baseball caps on, chewing on toothpicks and talking nineteen to the dozen. She confessed to me afterwards that the only word she understood in the entire conversation was “hogs”, so they may have been pig farmers. But they can certainly mangle the English language. The wares on sale at the market was as varied as the dialects – candies, delicatessen meats, clothing, wagon loads of hay; you name it, and you’d probably find it there.</p><p>If you drive towards Philadelphia you come to the exit for the King of Prussia Mall, which has to be one of the biggest malls in existence. We drove out there a couple of times and the first time around we did a bit of window shopping then decided on some lunch. Jim knew there was a food court there but we couldn’t see any signs for it, so we asked a passing lady. She looked blank for a moment then said, “I don’t know, I always drive there from here.” Which I suppose demonstrates how big the place was and also how difficult it is to separate Americans from their cars.</p><p>Another giant store we visited is called Cabella’s, which specialises in sporting goods. So big is this store that in the winter goods area they have a full size seaplane hanging from the ceiling, while a little further on there is a scene of the African bush with full-sized animals such as elephants, hippos and buffalo. The number of fishing rods is so great that it is like standing in the middle of a forest consisting of very thin trees. The gun department probably has more weapons than a small country like Luxembourg.</p><p>After buying some shoes the four of us stopped at the cafeteria for a coffee. Jackie and Pat sat down at a table while Jim and I went to buy the refreshments. The lady at the cash register was absolutely fascinated by us. First came the inevitable question – “You folks are not from around here, are you?” We explained our circumstances – that we were visiting Jim and Pat, who lived in Pennsylvania. She listened with her mouth open and when we finished she said, “Oh, keep talking, I love your accent.” The coffee wasn’t bad either.</p><p>On another day, Jim suggested that we took a visit to a coal mine, and we saw the most weird phenomenon we had ever seen. We stopped off first at a coal mine which was kept open for visitors. The visit starts with a trip on a train, carrying its passengers along the track it traversed in earlier days before taking them to the mine itself. The only other passengers were schoolchildren on a visit with their teachers and chaperones. The guard made room for us by making all the kids squeeze up. We settled down opposite one of the chaperones. She listened to us talking for a while then came that question, “You folks aren’t from around here, are you.” No, we told her and went into the same rigmarole, Jim and Pat live here in Pennsylvania but we were visiting from Luxembourg. She pondered on this for several minutes, then asked, “Are there many kangaroos where you live?” Now you can believe this as the gospel truth. We all kept straight faces as I told her, “Not many, no.” The coal mine itself made me glad that I hadn’t taken up coalmining as a career when I left school.</p><p>There are enormous deposits of coal in Pennsylvania, though not much is mined these days. We drove into a ghost town called Centralia which sits atop an area of abandoned coal mines. The streets and pavements are still there, but all the buildings and homes are gone. When we were there, the town had a population of 7. It’s been abandoned because the coal seam that runs under the town has been burning since 1962. No one is sure how the underground coal caught light, some think it was rubbish dumped down a shaft which burst into fire spontaneously, others maintain it was because the landfill rubbish was burnt in an area where the seam runs close to the surface. Whatever its cause, smoke still erupts from fissures in the ground, looking like mist wreathing the area – until you smell it, that is. Due to the noxious gases rising from the fires, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, etc., the state offered all the inhabitants generous terms to buy their houses and pay their removal expenses. Even so, there were a few stubborn people who refused to move and stayed put, even after everyone else had left. Various attempts have been made to extinguish the fires, but none have been successful. It’s estimated that the fires will eventually cover an area of 3,700 acres.</p><p>Centralia is one of the eeriest places I’ve ever visited – streets and sidewalks all in place, the front walls are still on the plots where houses once stood. All the houses except one or two are gone, smoke rises and drifts around. In one or two places you can put your hand on the ground and feel the heat of the fires hundreds of feet below.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BillB, post: 119782, member: 9985"] Few people planning a holiday in the US consider Pennsylvania as a must-see destination, but there is a great deal of interest. It’s just that Pennsylvania doesn’t go in much for self-promotion. Which is a pity because the variety is enormous – first the historical Pennsylvania, then the physical Pennsylvania of forests, canyons and caverns. And then there’s all the other neighbouring states and their places of interest. Over two visits we’ve made some pretty wide sweeps and taken in a lot. Our friends, Jim and Pat, thought we would find Philadelphia interesting and they were absolutely correct. This is the city where the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were drafted and the Independence Hall is where they were signed. It is where the Liberty Bell hangs for visitors to see, and to observe the large crack that runs down it. Philadelphia means “brotherly love” in ancient Greek, and was founded by William Penn, who hoped that the city would serve as an example of liberty and religious tolerance. He is to be seen to this day, standing atop a tall pillar in the centre of the city. For many years it was forbidden to build a structure higher than William Penn, though practicality has since overridden that idea. We took the “duck tour” – a city tour in a vehicle that was based on the WW2 DUKW, a type of landing craft that could drive straight up the beach as it had both seagoing and landgoing capabilities. This is, I must confess, somewhat touristy, but a great deal of fun and very informative, nevertheless. And after driving around the Philadelphia landmarks and historical sights, the vehicle drives sedately down a slipway and takes you for a cruise on the Delaware River. Not far inland from Philadelphia is Valley Forge, where George Washington wintered with his army during the War of Independence. It was a bitterly cold winter and the army was ill-equipped to withstand it. It was probably the lowest point for these men in the entire war. Today it is worth visiting as a site of historical significance alone, yet there is more here. Passing around the site one is overcome with a feeling of serenity and calm. It’s a beautiful area, and even more beautiful in the Spring when the boxwood and dogwood trees are in blossom. The museum at the entrance gives the visitor fascinating insights into how the army withstood that terrible winter, despite losing thousands of men to frostbite and starvation. Jim and Pat live on the border of Lancaster County, which has a large Amish population. The Amish are also called Pennsylvania Dutch, although this is due to a mishearing as they were of German origin and the English speakers in the local communities misheard the word “Deutsch” meaning German, for Dutch. The Amish were stuck with the name Pennsylvania Dutch for centuries. The Amish still live as the original Amish migrants lived – they wear 19th century clothes, live without electricity, any kind of engine, tractors, telephones or computers. They get around in horse-drawn buggies, or oddly enough, adult-sized foot-powered scooters, but not bicycles. Their clothes are held together with straight pins as they regard buttons as personal adornment. You can see them driving their horse-drawn ploughs in the fields. The women pull their hair tightly back into a bun, which leads to their hairlines receding as they grow older, under the stress of the tightness applied. They refuse to pay taxes or to serve in the armed forces, and the US government gave up forcing them as they also refuse to accept any form of money from the government, including pensions or farm subsidies. Their laws say that their farms must be divided equally among the children when the patriarch dies, which has resulted in the farms growing ever smaller until they reach a point where they are unviable as they are too small to support a family. As a consequence, to earn sufficient to live, they have branched out into furniture making and house building. Our friend Jim had a TV cabinet built by them and he says the workmanship is superb. He also told us that the houses built by the Amish are immaculate in their handicrafts. The main town in the Amish area is called Intercourse, (all the jokes have been made) which comes from the two roads that meet in the town and resulted in people from other townships arriving there to meet. On another occasion we all drove to Gettysburg to tour the battlefield. We had heard that the museum in Gettysburg sold a CD which conducted you around the battlefield, explaining what happened in each spot and even telling you when to stop the disc and when to turn it back on. To anyone with the slightest interest in history, this is a tour that will keep you engrossed all day. You can spend as long as you like at any one spot. We stopped at the Seminary which saw the opening moves in what was to prove one of the biggest battles of the American Civil War, then moved on around the national park, stopping at Little Round Top and Big Round Top, where the Confederates attacked uphill, only to be driven back by the Federal troops several times until the Northerners broke the Southern troops with a suicidal downhill charge. We stopped at the Peach Orchard and the Wheatfield, ending at Cemetery Ridge where 12,500 Confederate troops attacked the centre of the Northerners’ line in what became known as Pickett’s Charge. They advanced out of the woods and began to advance up the gentle slope, all the while under intense rifle and artillery fire. They reached the Northern lines, but were repulsed. This effectively ended the battle. You can stand today where the Federal troops had their line and look down at the field where their opponents advanced into withering fire. It’s a moving sight even on a peaceful day with the sun shining. Monuments and memorials are dotted around the battlefield, dedicated to commanders or whole regiments who performed acts of courage. On a lighter note, on Saturday mornings there is a market held in Lancaster County called the Green Dragon Market. We tootled along for breakfast one weekend and treated ourselves to eggs, bacon, home fries and toast. Nowadays I have to pass on the home fries and toast. Jim had warned us in advance that the hillbillies started in Pennsylvania and there were certainly plenty of them at the market. Jackie was seated next to a group of men, all eating breakfast with their baseball caps on, chewing on toothpicks and talking nineteen to the dozen. She confessed to me afterwards that the only word she understood in the entire conversation was “hogs”, so they may have been pig farmers. But they can certainly mangle the English language. The wares on sale at the market was as varied as the dialects – candies, delicatessen meats, clothing, wagon loads of hay; you name it, and you’d probably find it there. If you drive towards Philadelphia you come to the exit for the King of Prussia Mall, which has to be one of the biggest malls in existence. We drove out there a couple of times and the first time around we did a bit of window shopping then decided on some lunch. Jim knew there was a food court there but we couldn’t see any signs for it, so we asked a passing lady. She looked blank for a moment then said, “I don’t know, I always drive there from here.” Which I suppose demonstrates how big the place was and also how difficult it is to separate Americans from their cars. Another giant store we visited is called Cabella’s, which specialises in sporting goods. So big is this store that in the winter goods area they have a full size seaplane hanging from the ceiling, while a little further on there is a scene of the African bush with full-sized animals such as elephants, hippos and buffalo. The number of fishing rods is so great that it is like standing in the middle of a forest consisting of very thin trees. The gun department probably has more weapons than a small country like Luxembourg. After buying some shoes the four of us stopped at the cafeteria for a coffee. Jackie and Pat sat down at a table while Jim and I went to buy the refreshments. The lady at the cash register was absolutely fascinated by us. First came the inevitable question – “You folks are not from around here, are you?” We explained our circumstances – that we were visiting Jim and Pat, who lived in Pennsylvania. She listened with her mouth open and when we finished she said, “Oh, keep talking, I love your accent.” The coffee wasn’t bad either. On another day, Jim suggested that we took a visit to a coal mine, and we saw the most weird phenomenon we had ever seen. We stopped off first at a coal mine which was kept open for visitors. The visit starts with a trip on a train, carrying its passengers along the track it traversed in earlier days before taking them to the mine itself. The only other passengers were schoolchildren on a visit with their teachers and chaperones. The guard made room for us by making all the kids squeeze up. We settled down opposite one of the chaperones. She listened to us talking for a while then came that question, “You folks aren’t from around here, are you.” No, we told her and went into the same rigmarole, Jim and Pat live here in Pennsylvania but we were visiting from Luxembourg. She pondered on this for several minutes, then asked, “Are there many kangaroos where you live?” Now you can believe this as the gospel truth. We all kept straight faces as I told her, “Not many, no.” The coal mine itself made me glad that I hadn’t taken up coalmining as a career when I left school. There are enormous deposits of coal in Pennsylvania, though not much is mined these days. We drove into a ghost town called Centralia which sits atop an area of abandoned coal mines. The streets and pavements are still there, but all the buildings and homes are gone. When we were there, the town had a population of 7. It’s been abandoned because the coal seam that runs under the town has been burning since 1962. No one is sure how the underground coal caught light, some think it was rubbish dumped down a shaft which burst into fire spontaneously, others maintain it was because the landfill rubbish was burnt in an area where the seam runs close to the surface. Whatever its cause, smoke still erupts from fissures in the ground, looking like mist wreathing the area – until you smell it, that is. Due to the noxious gases rising from the fires, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, etc., the state offered all the inhabitants generous terms to buy their houses and pay their removal expenses. Even so, there were a few stubborn people who refused to move and stayed put, even after everyone else had left. Various attempts have been made to extinguish the fires, but none have been successful. It’s estimated that the fires will eventually cover an area of 3,700 acres. Centralia is one of the eeriest places I’ve ever visited – streets and sidewalks all in place, the front walls are still on the plots where houses once stood. All the houses except one or two are gone, smoke rises and drifts around. In one or two places you can put your hand on the ground and feel the heat of the fires hundreds of feet below. [/QUOTE]
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