By Brandon Krieger

Today we began our day in Philadelphia by going to the Constitution Museum. It was a very interesting museum as it was extremely interactive. We watched a live performance about the way our country was formed, and specifically what the first three words of the Constitution, “We The People,” really mean. The museum had many interactive computers with which we could see if we would have been able to vote in certain decades, view information about our states, and take quizzes to see how much we know about our country.

Next, we went to the Liberty Bell. This was very anti-climactic for me as we did not listen to a speaker and learn anything very important. We just saw a historical artifact. This was unlike anything else we have done on Etgar 36.

in front of the Liberty Bell

Our next historic visit was to, as Billy told us, a very high tech museum. It turns out he was joking with us and took us to a museum that was high tech to him about 25 years ago. It was at the site of Ben Franklin’s house and told us about him and how his life affected the country.

looking into the remnants of Ben Franklin's house

We had lunch at the historic Bourse and then were off to Baltimore. On the way out of Philadelphia, we stopped at the Art Museum to run up the Rocky steps! We had fun and some exercise.

In Baltimore we met with Neil Rubin, Editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times, who spoke to us about the First Amendment and issues of Freedom of the Press. We spoke about whether we should write articles that affect people negatively. For example, if a story is news but it also ruins a person’s reputation, and on a larger scale hurts the Jewish People’s image, should a Jewish paper run the story? Although some of our opinions differed, most of us were strongly in favor of freedom of the press in all cases.

Neil Rubin of the Baltimore Jewish Times

We then went to dinner at the Inner Harbor and made our way to Washington DC. During this drive, we watched a special episode of “The West Wing” which spoke about the way our government works. The show was very good.

When we arrived in DC, we ate cake to celebrate Brian’s birthday. Finally, we went to sleep so we could get ready for the final city on our journey.