Many Penn students graduate without ever taking the time to see Philadelphia's most historic sites like Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and the original location of Penn itself. You don't have to be a history major to appreciate the following tours of the city's most historic district. And after classes wind down, what better time to see the city that you call home for at least 9 months of the year?
The Constitutional Walking Tour
Our founding fathers walked. If you go abroad to Europe everyone tells you the best way to see the cities is to take a walking tour, and the same proves true for Philadelphia. The guided tour allows you to loop around "America's most historic square mile" in just an hour and fifteen minutes, taking in more than fifteen sites in the process, and a self-guided version (pick up a brochure at the Independence Visitor Center) of the tour is available. iPod lovers can download the tour in MP3 form, and the company has also recently introduced a cell phone version of the tour.
The Big Bus Company/Philadelphia Trolley
This past year, a blissful union occurred when the Big Bus Company and Philadelphia Trolley Works (which includes the 76 Carriage Company) joined together to become a vehicular touring company of epic proportions. The 76 Carriage Company offers horse and carriage rides around the historic district at an escalating price/time scale. If you are more a fan of modern means of conveyance, the Big Bus offers a hop-on, hop-off guided tour on a double-decker bus, while the open-air trolleys provide continuousninety-minute guided tours.
Ride the Ducks
The website describes Ride the Ducks as "quack-tacular," and that pretty much sums up this ninety-minute tour on "amphibious vehicles" that were actually developed for Army use. Tours, which are narrated by the driver and accompanied by old favorites such as the YMCA, include seventy minutes of the historic district and twenty minutes floating in the Delaware River.
Be prepared to pray for earplugs as the children around you have a field day blowing on their complementary Ride the Ducks quackers.
I Glide Segway Tours
Not actually a tour of the historic district, but I'm throwing it in because of the innovative concept. In three hours, you learn how to ride a Segway and take a complete tour of the Art Museum, Fairmount Park, and Schuylkyll Banks area of Philadelphia. A little pricey, but definitely worth the time spent in a kickin' neon yellow vest on a gyroscopic Segway.
Tippler's Tour
Let's face it; if you're busy planning to dissent from your mother countryby day, you probably need someplace to unwind at night. That's exactly what our founding fathers did, which is why this tour invites you to drink in the watering holes where some of the earliest seeds of democracy were sewn. A colonial guide leads tour-takers to bars both old and new while regaling them with stories of life at Colonial taverns. "Tastings" are included on the tour, which offers a student discount, but be prepared to show a valid ID.
