On Wednsday I am going to be going down to Philidelphia for the day, including a trip to the mint. This will be my first time at the mint and I am pretty excited.
have fun, and bring back some souveniers for each of us! You do know that they let you take some home, don't you?
You'll have fun. Its a great place to tour and I'd recommend it to anyone. The tour is short and self-guided but very nice. They also have a very nice gift shop. My wife and I along with my son took the tour last year while we were in Philly. Dont take your camera along. The guard will make you lay it outside along the wall for you to pick up later...if you're lucky enough to not have it stolen in the process. Absolutely no pictures are allowed to be taken inside.
Go on the duck tour. Its a blast! quack quack.. Its right outside the building with the Liberty Bell in it. I was there last year when they were filming the movie Shooter with Danny Glover and Mark Wholberg. That was fun watching too!... and make sure you have a Philly Sandwich .. I might go back just for that!
Hopefully, the Philly mint is more interesting than the Denver one. THAT tour was quick and very non-interactive, plust there weren't many education displays or anything else. But, it was free...
Do you still need permission from your Congressman to go on the tour? I wanted to go a several years back, but never got the OK before I left home. This was after 911 so things may have changed. We were ther on a day of a high alert, and there were cops walking the streets with automatic weapons strapped over their shoulders. That was a little unnerving to say the least.
I was thinking about visiting the Philly mint in mid-August. They didn't say anything about having permission from a congressman, but they indicated that the Mint is closed to the public if the terror alert status is orange or higher. I'm not sure what it is right now.
When we went last year, we just walked up to the front of the building and was let in by the guard out front. He was only letting in so many people at a time. When you go through the doors there's a metal detector you have to walk through, just like the airport, you have to remove all change from your pockets, take your belt off if you're wearing one, car keys, etc. After that you're pretty much free to roam and take the tour. If anyone in your party is disabled and cant do steps theres a elevator in the back of the gift shop for that purpose. I didnt see anything interactive at the mint. The gift shop and the self-guided tour is all that was available then. Ben Franklins grave site, right next to the mint is also worth seeing. Theres a guy at the gate who will charge you $2 dollars to see it and tour the graveyard. There are some other politicians from that time period buried in there also but I cant remember who they are. Liberty Mall is a nice place to visit, thats where Independence Hall is. Dont eat at a place they call "The Bourse". It consists of different places to eat and some gift shops. I found it very busy and rather cruddy. Of course, thats only my opinion.
I had a good time. The tour was fun, though you cant see too much. It had alot of little things to read and alot of medals and comemoratives. I picked up a 2007 quarter proof set, 2007 Presedential Dollar Proof set, a jumbo buffalo nickle, a Idaho quarter for my circulated quarter map, and a squished penny album. While in Philidelphia, I recomend going to the mint (of course), the Betsy Ross house, The Treasury, and anywhere else you want too. Almost Everything is in walking distance. I also saw this "money in motion" exhibit talking about currency and coins. I also got a packet of about $100 in shreaded money FREE. Though it did rain awile. Me and my mom dived under a water ice stand and got soaked. My sister and her boyfriend ran down somewhere, Eventually we got down there and realized that they found alittle dock. They were dry and we were soaked. When the rain stopped we went down the water and saw a battleship and a submarine. We went up South Street too. I recommend eating at Jim's cheese stakes. They are really good.
That sounds like people enjoy that place. No free samples though, HUH? You would think with all the money our government makes they could pass out free samples of something. I'm a little to old for trips like that but it would be interesting. Just no free samples.
Just got back last night. I was alittle disappointed, dont know what I was expecting. It was neat to see how they do things, but your view is not that good from the window. The end of the self guided tour was the best for anyone who likes early commemoratives. I did pick up a proof dollar set and an encased dollar.
Years ago I took the family to Busch Gardens. With the paid admission ticket, they gave each adult two coupons for free beer. A lot of folks who don't drink beer gave me their tickets. Best time I ever had at an amusement park. Years later I visited Hershey Park and took the candy factory tour. When they didn't even give us a single stinkin' piece of free candy, I complained and told them about Busch Gardens. They just told me I was lucky just to get the tour and asked me to leave. Not much fun. I may go to the Mint in Philly in August. I'll tell them my Busch Gardens story and try for a free sample.
I never got anything free at Busch Gardens, but I still prefer it to Disney. However, you USED to get free samples at Hershey. You also USED to get a tour of the factory in stead of the amusement park. I very much enjoyed the trip back in the 60's. Took my daughter there in the 80's - never again!
