Fake!

Take a good close look at this bell. Look familiar? Well, it's not the Liberty Bell, if that's what you're thinking. For one thing, this one is not cracked. Secondly, it's in Washington, DC, not Philadelphia. This reproduction is in front of Union Station, where I think you can actually ring it. (Or at least I think you can. I didn't try, but it looked there was some mechanism underneath that you could push to make it ring.) Just try that with the real Liberty Bell.

Ah, the power of the Internet. Taking a second to look this bell up, I discovered that it is twice the size of the real bell, and was cast by the same foundry as the original. This one was made for the Nation's Bicentennial celebration and traveled America on The Freedom Train. I remember seeing the Freedom Train in 1976 as a wee lad, but I don't remember what I saw on board the train. Perhaps this is the second time I've seen this bell.