I made a mistake in my planning for my visit to Independence National Historical Park. I neglected to obtain tickets in advance for admission to Independence Hall itself, and by the morning when I arrived, tickets were sold out. However, I was able to wander around the outside of the building and see additional sites that make up the Historical Park.

The visitor center itself was fairly large, but a theater playing a repeating film about other sites to see in Philadelphia, an overpriced snack bar, a City of Philadelphia information counter, and a large gift shop took up most of that space. There was a small desk for information about the National Historical Park and a very small exhibit next to it. There was also a small theater playing a repeating film about Independence National Historical Park but it was sadly one of the poorest produced and least informative films that I've seen in any National Park unit to date.

There was a line to get into the building currently housing the Liberty Bell but it moved fairly quickly and I was able to get up close and take some pictures of the Bell, crack and all . There is a lengthy hallway leading from the entrance to the building up to the Liberty Bell. The hallway is lined with several exhibits mostly discussing slavery in the U.S. Only one exhibit actually discussed the history of the Liberty Bell.

I was able to walk around the surrounding neighborhood, at one point entering into a small courtyard housing Benjamin Franklin's house and the post office where he worked for a while. I had expected the Park to have more about the signers of the Declaration of Independence and about those who wrote the US constitution. Perhaps I would have found that had I been able to go inside of Independence Hall. I'll just have to plan another visit, this time with tickets.