The final night in DC we had a great dinner (Brazilian) which is nice to mention. After we were brought to our table they explained the concept there. There was a great salad bar for the first course. On your table there was a kind of card with on both sides a color: red or green. Red was on top and when you were ready for some meat you just turn the card to green and a waiter appeared with a spear of meat (you were able to choose from about 10 different ones). They cut it off and you were able to start eating. Also some sidedishes were brought. You were able to keep doing that as long as you would like. We never experienced it this way and the food tasted very well. After we received the cheque we also noticed that it was quite an expensive dinner lol.
On Thursday July 22 we left DC. We had rented a car so I first went to Union station to get it. It was a nice Ford Focus, large enough for the 2 of us. Planned was a ride to Lancaster, so I first drove back to the hotel to pick up my wife and then we went North. In Lancaster we checked in (personnel wasnt quite friendly) and then went to a place where it was possible to make a ride in a typical Amish carriage. We were able to visit a farm where the Amish people live ( 2 generation were living there cause its difficult to manage it all financially). After that we went to a typical tourist spot, the so called "Amish village", where we got info about the Amish lifestyle. Also why they live the way they do and information about the Amish history in the "Dutch county". It all was quite interesting, specially the fact that young Amish people will get the opportunity at the age of 16 to taste a little bit of the "normal" life. The are able, till the age of 21, to get a cell phone, get higher education, wear sneakers, wear jewelry, get a drivers license and so.... When they become 21 they need to decide weather they turn back to the Amish community (and get baptized) or leave it. When they leave they will not be able anymore to visit their family so most of them decide to come back ( 90 %).
After a quiet night we left for Philadelphia the next day. On our route we visited Herr's a chips factory for a little excursion. We bought some potato chips and pretzels and continued our route again.
In Philadelphia, after checking in, we first left for the visitors centre for the usual info and only were able to visit the "liberty bell". For visiting the house of independence it was necessary to get (free) tickets in the visitor centre. I volunteered in waking up early to get them the next day lol.