Lancaster and Philadelphia

I am now back in Maine after a very relaxing tour around New York State and Pennsylvania. Lancaster County is yet another beautiful county. Although I was a little early for the main show of colour, I did find a few trees. I stayed at the EJ Bowman House B & B. I definitely recommend this one too. It is a old house which has been beautifully decorated and the breakfasts are not for slimmers. At least the ones I had, as there was an option of a lighter breakfast. www.ejbowmanhouse.com Alice and Murphy were very welcoming with lots of suggestions of what to see and do. I had some great walks and saw lots of birds although sadly not the migrating hawks which were in the region! Lititz was my favorite village and I learnt a lot about the Moravians which were a German community which settled here around the same time as the Amish settled. I saw lots of the buggies being driven by Amish and children playing in the fields. I did stop briefly in Intercourse but it was a little (an understatement) touristy for me. You can also have dinner with an Amish family but I ran out of time. Definitely a place to go back to.

I drove to Philadelphia and stayed a couple of nights because it was recommended to me. However, there was not much to see that I hadn't seen in other cities. Obviously for Americans it is important but I did not fancy the line for the Independance Hall tour or to see Liberty Bell. Next time, I would stay in Lancaster and spend more time in Valley Forge which I stopped at briefly on Murphy's suggestion. George Washington had his headquarters here for 6 months in the revolutionary war and there are lots of walks to take here. The white tailed deer and groundhogs seemed not to mind the humans. The one posing here did dash off once I had finished taking his photo. Lancaster is also a good base to visit Gettysburg if you want to see more battlefields. Anyway, back to Philadelphia. The best museum was the National Liberty Museum which had some beautiful Chihuly glass sculptures. I loved the jellybean children - all jellybeans look different outside but they are all the same inside. Definitely worth a visit, even though I detected a slight anti firearm message (but I won't go into that debate here). Photos of my drive to Philadelphia and the city are above and Lancaster - Pinnacle outlook and Middle Creek are below.

I have resisted buying dragons on my trip but could not resist Sharon (from Sharon Springs, NY state) and Philly (from Philadelphia. Sharon is the larger red one. Red you have already met. He has been with me all the way being a gift from my friend Judith. The bone Maori carving, I bought in Christchurch, NZ.

Next stop Montreal then I am back in South America for a couple of weeks. Will update the blog with photos of Galapagos around end of November.