navelgazing.omphaloskeptic.net Journal

Getting There - Aneel's Travelogue

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Independence, Money Bear, DE, Monday, 24 October 2011 7:51pm

I didn't get to do much sightseeing over the weekend, because the TEP convention occupied all of my time. I'd hoped to see the Philadelphia Art Museum, but Monday is their day off, so I headed over to Independence Hall and saw the room where the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution were all signed. I also saw the original chambers of the House of Representatives and the Senate in Congress Hall, and stopped by the Liberty Bell.

Afterwards, I walked over to the US Mint and got to see coin blanks being transported to and fro on conveyor belts. It was a little hard to see what was going on. I presume that most of the action is inside of the big blue machines, but you're not close enough to see their inputs and outputs from the viewing gallery. A few blocks away from the Mint is the Federal Reserve, which had some displays about paper money. They have a tower of shredded bills and a pallet of more than $1 million in $5 bills.

I met up with Shervin (a TEP who's now living in Philadelphia) for lunch at Cosmi's, a much better cheesesteak place than Geno's, before heading out to Delaware.

I stopped along the way at a Cyclegear store and tried to buy a replacement mirror, but all of the ones they had had the opposite threading.

I'm staying at a motel in Delaware. I checked in and then went out for dinner. Since the restaurant was only a few minutes away, I didn't wear my riding pants over my jeans. Of course, two minutes into the ride, it started pouring. After riding all day with the waterproof gear on and not seeing a drop of rain, the ten minutes when I can get soaked, I do. Happily, the Pho at this restaurant was good, and they made tasty jackfruit and red bean drinks.