Day 4 in Philly. We began the morning by going on a hunt to buy our transit day passes. This is part two to my horror story of taking the SEPTA. Basically, Philly uses a zone system with different day passes based on how far you travel. Since we needed to get to the airport in the afternoon, we had to purchase their Independence Pass, which should have been sold at all their subway stations.

After exiting our hotel, we headed to the nearest subway station for our first attempt at buying the pass. We were told they didn’t sell the pass at the station, but the next station at City Hall would have it. The operator at the booth told us we should take the train one station over. However, she seemed to have forgotten that we didn’t have a pass at hand and that I wasn’t going to pay an extra fare just to take it one station up. Hence we decided to walk over to City Hall.

Upon getting there, the attendant at the booth told us they didn’t sell the pass at the station, but the next station would have it for sure. Sound similar? Then I explained to her that we would told those exact same words at the previous station. Luckily she was understanding and let us hop on the subway without paying the fare. When we got to the next station, neither of the booths at the tracks sold the pass, but finally there was an actual ticketing window which sold it. I only had to ask at five separate times for it.

If there’s one thing I learned from my ordeal with taking the SEPTA is this: SEPTA, you suck.

After getting our passes we took the bus over to the Franklin Institute. Despite the delay, we made good time and actually arrived at the museum before it opened. That allowed us the opportunity to explore the interactive zones before the school kids starting piling in. Hehe. The museum has three floors in total. After we went through all the exhibits, we paid a little extra to try their sky bike. It was actually a lot of fun riding on a tightrope, although I didn’t find it all that exhilarating. =P

As we were on a tight schedule, we had a small snack at the museum before we left. Then it was back on the bus toward the Eastern State Penitentiary. Since we missed it on the day we arrived, we had to squeeze it back into our schedule. We pretty much only had an hour inside the ground, so we picked up our audio devices and started the tour.

The jail itself looked like a fortress from the outside and the cells looked equally daunting on the inside. I couldn’t imagine being an inmate during those times. The isolation alone would kill me, if not the cold. None of the corridors or the cells had any heat, so I was once again freezing as we toured the prison.

By the time we finished through the gift shop, it was time to catch the bus back to our hotel. We pretty much timed everything to the minute since we were rushed for time. We picked up our luggage then headed out to the airport to finally grab some lunch. Afterwards we had a smooth flight back to Toronto.

Overall our trip to Philly was a lot of fun (minus the cold of course). I’m happy we were able to make the trip into a mini-vacation, rather than just heading into Atlantic City for the concert. With three back-to-back trips to the U.S., I think I’ve come to appreciate these quick getaways. I hope there will be more trips in store for the New Year. =)