Lancaster and Bird in Hand

Arrived in Lancaster to what was rated very high campground, and discovered, much to my dismay, that it is at an Amusement Park!  Designed for little kids!  We are maybe 5 sites away from the roller coaster, and I am not happy!  Why the great ratings??  Oh well, we are here, and to see the area, so our 5 star accommodations will suffice!  And if I question Clem again on why, he is going to smack me, so let it be!!  

It was early enough, so we set out to see the Central Market in the downtown.  Surprised to see a similar Sailor/Soldier monument in the square, much like the one in Allentown.  In fact, I believe it had a confederate soldier, which they told us there was very rare for a northern monument. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a duplicate.  But since I messed up my photo in Allentown.( that darn ISO again!) I can’t compare!  Maybe check them out on the internet.  Anyway, had some difficulty finding the actual market, with construction,(again like Allentown!) and a market mall, which lured us in thinking it was the place, and by the time we finally found it, it was closed!!  Nothing we read had indicated 2:00 on Saturdays!  Nor that it was only open three days a week! Pretty disappointing!  Beautiful building, built in 1736, and the oldest market in the U.S. Reminded me of a small Quincy Market, and I wish we could have seen it.  We stopped at the visitors center, where we were directed to stores and restaurants, looked at each other, and headed back to the coach!  

                 

We had driven thorough Bird in Hand on the way in, and I had spotted a hand rolled pretzel place, so we stopped there for a yummy treat!  The Amish gals were working hard in the heat and a busy day, but still had a smile for us, and bid us a good weekend.  Lots of buggies driving through town, and what looked like a few folks on bicycles, but while we enjoyed our pretzels, we realized they were really scooters, with bicycle sized tires.  All the Amish, right down to the smallest children, were dressed in bonnets or straw hats, and pile the family into the buggies to go out….to who knows where!  Saturday night on the town?  Glimpses into the farm yards show them sweeping, moving the buggies, etc.  Beautiful countryside, clean, neat barns and farms.  Quite lovely.  

We walked around Kettle Village, a better done, tourist attraction than the one in Mystic that we skipped, with shops and we had an ice cream, then headed back for the evening.  Pretzels and ice cream…..good dinner!!