Goodbye to New England

Now it's hello to New York State, Pennsylvania, Maryland & Virginia. We spent a night in the Catskills - Oy Vey! - before heading to Woodstock, man. Too groovy! We put Bob Dylan on the stereo & prepared our sentimental hippy old souls for San Francisco.

Then it was off to Philadelphia....you can spead the word....... which was wet, wet, wet. So were we by the end of the day but we didn't let a mere deluge deter us. Visited Liberty Hall, tiny Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin's home site & museum, Elfreth's Alley (oldest inhabited street in USA), & the Delaware River front. Now very well informed on the Revolutionary War. Most fascinating thing we saw was the "Armonica" invented by Ben Franklin. It was inspired by the sounds you can produce by rubbing a wet finger around the rim of a glass. A Park Ranger played it for us! Eating in Pliladelphia was great - had soft pretzels as a snack, then found Jim's Steakhouse so Howard could have his longed for Philly steak sandwich with Whizz cheese. Great diner all black & white tiles & chrome & a line up of black servers behind the counter. Passed some very sleazy shops but decided not to sample the delights of Condom Kingdom. We had a little misunderstanding about train times so Fiona dawdled (what's new? says Howard) & spent an hour longer in city than planned but got to see magnificent Gity Hall & immense Masonic Temple.

Lancaster County was next for a day trip to see Amish country. We were somewhat disappointed. It's far less rural & peaceful than we had expected. We bought an interesting book which explores the Plain People's way of life & their struggles to maintain that way of life in the face of the modern world. It's strangely reminiscent of challenges faced by Jewish orthodoxy! The whole day was also made worthwhile by most amazingly spectacular sunsets we have ever seen.