I am so sorry you had such a bad experience. The Independence Hall ticket issue~You can only get tickets day of, so unless you had the full day there you were out of luck anyway, since they are usually sold out by 1pm, and sometimes as early as 10am. I tend to go in the "off" months when tickets are not required so sometimes I forget about needing them.

As for the Liberty Bell, it has been inside a building for as long as I can remember. I think it was first moved to its own pavilion for the bicentennial. The building it is in now is newer. Part of the reason it is housed in its own building is that lunatics in the past have tried to deface it, plus it is one of our nation's most famous symbols, so it has some extra protection.

The Reading Terminal Market... I don't know what to say. How sad. We try to help as much as possible on Intercot but sometimes you have to do a little extra research. Their hours are posted all over the internet

Parking is definitely an issue if you have someone in your party that can't walk a bit. The price for metered parking is reasonable, but you need to be able to walk depending on where you get a spot. If you have to use garages they are expensive. Some of the streets are smaller, but I guess I'm used to it. It was the first city to be designed in the grid pattern, and William Penn never could've imagined buses and cars and SUVs sharing the roads with horses and carriages! Good thing you didn't take your car to NYC... if you think Philly's streets are claustrophobic you would be in for a real eye opener there. Being able to walk, and not having a car to tie you down when you are exploring cities really makes things so much easier.

I'm so sorry you had a bad time, but please don't write the city off forever. There is no way you could accomplish enough in a half day (and a rainy day at that) to get a real picture of Philly. I'm glad you at least got to see some interesting things on the bus tour. I understand why you might not go out of your way to come back here, but if the opportunity arises again, maybe you could give us a second chance