Race Street Pier + the Ben Franklin Bridge.

Over the 4th of July weekend we ventured into Philly with our friends Mindy and Justin to check out the new Race Street Pier project and to walk up and over the Ben Franklin Bridge. [We also got some grub at Jim's, but we'll cover that in a later post]. The plan was to walk around the pier, have a look, and then head up onto the bridge to watch the fireworks over the river at 9:30p...what's the saying about the best laid plans?

How cool is this pier? It was falling apart and in real disrepair for a number of years before it was renovated into this amazing multi-level park that has seating, grass, walkways and amazing views of the water, bridge and skyline. Such a great project and sure way to attract people down to the waterfront. There were a ton of people down here just chilling and soaking in the great weather and gearing up for the fireworks...

It was now time to head topside and check out pier from above...up on the bridge. To get up there you have to walk back to 5th Street and then start walking up, up, and up. It was hot, but at least there was a nice breeze once you got up high.

It's a pretty surreal feeling to be walking over a bridge that I've driven over countless number of times. The walkway is actually above the road deck so you can look down on the cars, and the PATCO subway trains. And the bridge really shakes when the trian goes over. Not the best situation for those of us who don't fancy heights too much.

And finally, here's what the pier below looked like from up above.

Awesome perspective from up here, and some great views of the skyline as the sun went down...

So the plan was to stay up on the bridge for the fireworks that started at 9:30pm...however we found out that the bridge closes at 9pm. Problem. So we raced back down to the waterfront to watch the display. We were pretty much underneath them.