These are only a few of the reasons that you should take time off from the annual meeting to enjoy something of the city and its environs. And to help you and your families do so, APA will be making a number of tours available. Here is a sampling:

• Showcase Philadelphia (Tour 2) will give visitors a motorcoach tour of the city and information on its 300-year history. That means, for instance, cruising by the historic area (home to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell) and Society Hill (which contains historic houses, serpentine walkways, and tiny alleys), Rittenhouse Square (where one can see stroller-pushing nannies and lost-in-thought chess players), and the Schuylkill River (one of the best rowing rivers in the United States).

Visitors will also travel down Broad Street (the longest straight street in the country) and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway (which hosts July 4th fireworks, as well as other festivals).

• History in the Park (Tour 5) offers, via a walking tour, a good idea of how American democracy got jump-started. First, participants will see a movie at the Visitor Center, then they will visit the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (where the question of whether America should become independent from England was hotly debated), Congress Hall (where the U.S.’s first legislators got down to business), the Benjamin Franklin Museum, the print shop that produced Franklin’s "Poor Richard’s Almanac," and the post office where Franklin served as America’s first postmaster.

• In Franklin’s Footsteps (Tour 27) is definitely for those persons who wax enthusiastic about that portly gentleman who apparently flew a kite in a storm to test electricity, signed the Declaration of Independence, served as minister to France, and engaged in a number of other notable and sometimes infamous activities.

• Philadelphia Medica (Tour 19) should prove especially fascinating to psychiatrists and their families since it will showcase some of the earliest aspects of American medicine. For instance, tour participants will visit America’s very first hospital, Philadelphia Hospital, with its early surgical suite, historical medical library, and exhibits of 18th- and 19th-century medical garments and equipment. Tour participants will also visit the mansion where 19th-century physician Philip Physick, M.D., lived and practiced, as well as a museum at the College of Physicians.

• Dining on the Delaware River (Tour 28) will offer guests an evening of fun and frolic on a cruise ship called "The Spirit of Philadelphia." There will be live entertainment and dancing, a generous buffet, and an optional bar.

• Bird Watching in Cape May (Tour 21) is for those individuals who appreciate feathered, winged, warm-blooded vertebrates, and in copious numbers! Cape May is a Victorian town perched on the tip of New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean—about a two-hour drive from Philadelphia. Tens of thousands of birds will be arriving on the coastline around Cape May about the same time that thousands of psychiatrists will be flocking to Philadelphia. Lunch at a wharf-side restaurant is included.

• Pearl Buck House and Shopping at Peddler’s Village (Tour 10) will provide a pleasant drive from Philadelphia to Bucks County, Pa., and to the quiet country estate that belonged to 1938 Nobel Prize—winning author Pearl Buck. The 1835 stone farmhouse where Buck lived is interesting in itself because it is a good example of 19th-century Pennsylvania architecture. But as Buck’s home, it also tells a story of an unusual, multicultural life. For instance, it contains not just American country furniture, but also decorative Chinese screens and Oriental rugs, since Buck grew up in China and taught at a university there. Tour members will also be treated to a gourmet Chinese lunch and have time to shop in the numerous boutiques and craft shops at Peddler’s Village.

Additional information on these and other tours, including a sign-up form, can be found in the "Leisure Time Activities" section of the Advance Registration Information Booklet. Additional information can also be found on APA’s Web site at www.psych.org by clicking on the annual meeting logo. ▪