Encampment Tour Route Stop 2 VFNHP

On Monday 24 September 2012, I started my visit to Valley Forge National Historical Park (VFNHP) at the Visitor Center. This is the first stop on the Encampment Tour Route. I collected an official park map and set out to my car to continue my photographic survey of the park.

I drove onto the Encampment Tour Route towards stop 2 where a group of reconstructed log huts are located. The road leaves the Visitor Center in a broad right curve up a slight incline. The view of the area is quite open with hills in the near distance to the SSE where the Schuylkill River has cut through the landscape on its way to Philadelphia. Today, unlike the view in 1777, the hills are covered with buildings, commercial and residential.

Looking ENE from Stop 2 along the Encampment Tour Route back toward the Visitor Center

To the ESE you can see one of the commercial buildings, the new Valley Forge Casino Resort. That is it straight ahead with the V on the roof. The two buildings to its right are the hotel/resort. 

Above cannon from a distance.

There are two cannons at this stop on the tour which are across the road from the reconstructed log huts.

These huts are like the huts constructed by the soldiers in the Continental Army during the encampment at Valley Forge in 1777-1778. Many trees gave their lives in the name of the revolution, too. According to a pamphlet published by the National Park Service, Valley Forge National Historical Park, and I quote, "Prior to European settlement, Pennsylvania was 90-95% forested. In the Valley Forge area, forests were cleared for lumber, agriculture, firewood, and fences, reducing forest cover to approximately 60% by 1777. During the encampment of George Washington and the Continental Army, almost every tree in what is now the park—and for miles beyond—was cut down for firewood, shelter, and defensive structures. Post-encampment, small woodlots and hedgerows were re-established by farmers. Some areas of the park such as Mount Joy and Wayne’s Woods were re-planted by the Valley Forge Park Commission in the early 20th century. Today, forest communities cover 34% of the park and contain 110 different kinds of trees." 

Looking back from just past the log huts.

Looking towards Mount Joy on the Western side of the park from just past the log huts. 

You don't see many trees along this road. You can see that Mount Joy in the background is covered with trees.

The survey continues.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Photo Safari - Ninth St Italian Market, Philadelphia

The Italian Market in South Philadelphia has to be one of the most colorful areas in the city.  Colorful enough to film a few Rocky segments. 

Rocky Movie Locations

An open air market of stalls selling fruit, vegetables, live poultry, seafood and clothing, combined with indoor shops of cheese, meats, spices and of course restaurants defines the Italian Market. Although some of the Italian flavor now has Latino and Asian overtones, it remains just as colorful. When you add in the odors and genuine characters that work there, the sum is what makes the Italian Market a wondrous place to visit and photograph.

To give you a small tour and taste of the market, there is a two hour photo safari planned along the Italian Market in South Philadelphia on Sunday, July 22, starting at 9am.

The photographers will gather near Geno's Steaks at the corner of Passyunk Ave and Ninth Street. The safari will step off heading north towards Christian Street stopping along the way to capture photographic images. Guidance for creating better compositions, exposure and camera use will be customized to each attending photographer. At the other end of the market the group will have the opportunity to stop for a sandwich and a drink with Q and A continuing for an hour.

The images in this post (except for Rocky) were captured at the market last Monday. Monday is the only day of the week when most of the shops are closed. None the less, there were several opportunities for photographs.


Come on down and join us in South Philly for what will be a memorable photo safari. Contact:dativersafari@gmail.com

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

The Original London Sightseeing Tour

Wednesday we ventured out, again via bus, to the Original London Sightseeing Tour.  The tour consisted of a double decker bus around London and a boat ride on the Thames to Greenwich and return.  My wife and son started the tour the day she broke her foot but was in too much pain to go on the boat ride.  Together my wife and I would finish what she started.

Source:GoogleMaps

We caught the 276 to Hackney Central then the 38.  We disembarked at Piccadilly Circus, in front of Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum.  There was only a short walk to one of the stops along the yellow route of the Original London Sightseeing Tour.  There were three tours, each with a different route and corresponding color.  The yellow tour hit all the mandatory sites.  We boarded the double decker and were told there was no live tour guide on the buses that day.  We settled for listening to a recorded tour in English.  We didn't expect to leave the bus except for the river tour, so we settled in, under cover, at the front of the top deck.


There was a constant change of sightseers on the bus from stop to stop.  I heard many languages spoken.  The few I could discern were French and German.  On all of our travels in London, many different languages were spoken all around us.  I would guess I heard Russian, Polish, Arabic, Indian languages, Italian and others I couldn't discern.  On this tourist ride I heard mostly German and French, more German and French than I heard all week.

From the top deck of our moving bus we passed most of the following, 

Piccadilly Circus	Buckingham Palace& the Changing of the Guard	10 Downing Street	Southwark Cathedral
Statue of Eros	St. James's Park	Horse Guards' Parade	London Dungeon
The National Gallery	Westminster Abbey	St. Martin-in-the-Fields	HMS Belfast
Nelson's Column	Big Ben & Parliament	Covent Garden	Tower Bridge
Trafalgar Square	Lambeth Palace	Fleet Street	Tower of London
St. James's Palace	The London Eye	St. Paul's Cathedral	Shakespeare's Globe
Ritz Hotel	London Aquarium	Bank of England Museum	Tate Modern
Hyde Park	Westminster Pier	Monument	Speakers' Corner
Wellington Museum	London Bridge

We disembarked the yellow route bus when we arrived at the dock from which we would board the boat tour.  We walked down the long ramp to the rear of the line of tourists waiting to board the boat.  There was no boat at the dock.  It was still out on its return trip from Greenwich.  We didn't wait long before the boat was docked and empty of tourists.

We boarded and did a quick spin around the enclosed lower deck and it's snack bar.  I helped my wife to the upper open deck where the view would be better.  She settled on the first bench at the top of the stairs which was the last bench at the rear of the boat.  The weather was a bit cooler than the day before.  My experience from working outdoors over 34 years, is that whenever you are near water, there always seems to be a breeze.  The breeze put a chill in the air.  I returned to the snack bar and bought some coffee, hot chocolate and a few snacks.  I then juggled the hot drinks back to the upper deck. 

Westminster Clock and Portcullis House

I caught this piper on the Westminster Bridge

London Eye

London Eye and County Hall

There seemed to be quite a bit of time before we launched into the river.   I quickly drank most of my coffee and left my Twixt on the bench under my wife's knee.  I unsheathed my camera and went into photographer mode.


Once we got under way the boat went right across the Thames to pick up more tourists.  That got me closer to the Eye.

With the new tourists aboard, we set off towards London Tower.

There were several bridges to glide under, Jubilee, Hungerford, an unnamed RR bridge being restored, Millenium and Waterloo, before we arrived at Tower Bridge.

 All along the way the tour guide provided a package of pseudo-historical banter, wrapped in an East Ender slang, tied with a dazzling witty ribbon.  I remember tourist bus drivers delivering the same kind of banter in Boston.  I wonder if there is a school of witty edutainment that teaches all the guides, worldwide?  I can see the school offering Cockney and South Side speech lessons and bawdy details lectures.  Of course most of the learning would happen in the evening, after formal classes, when the worldwide students get together at the bar or pajama parties.

However they are trained, we enjoyed it.  I even tipped them at the end of our tour when the guide held out a small galvanized bucket to receive the coins.  There must have a gutsy class, too.

The last leg of the outbound tour was to Greenwich a bit farther down river.  There were some great views along the way.  Many of the new apartments were quite pricey, we were told.

The boat was tied up at Greenwich for five or ten minutes.  By that time it was getting dark.  The darkness was partly due to the overcast and partly because of the latitude of London near 50º N, closer to the Arctic Circle and mostly the time of the year.  On the trip back to Tower Bridge the guide was silent and we spent sometime on the enclosed, warmer, lower deck.  I composed my map and British money image there.

The boat docked again at Tower Bridge to take on more tourists.  I captured a few more images of Tower Bridge.  I underexposed some of the images on purpose.  I wanted to darken the tower and catch the moon in the same frame.  The gull was an added surprise.  I think the gull adds some spookiness.


When we returned to the dock at Westminster Bridge we boarded a tour bus that took us to Green Park where we caught the mother ship, the 38, that took us back home.  We finished what my wife and son started the on their very first day in London.  The end of our visit was Friday.  We had only one more full day in London.  That happened to be my wife's birthday.




©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved