Since then, I've been quite the tourist. After I arrived on Saturday, we went to see the Liberty Bell. It's quite the job to get in. We had to lift up our coats and twirl around (I guess to make sure I wasn't packing in the back of my pants, or strapped with bombs), and they search all of our bags. Luckily I was not branded a terrorist, so in we went. The Liberty Bell is very cool to see. I will have a picture, but I am currently in a Starbucks and forgot my camera cord. Sigh... This evening I'll have an entire blog post of pictures.
Sarah walked me around to see different neighborhoods. My favorite was Old City, and I have determined that if I ever moved here, I would live in Elfreth's Alley, which is the oldest, continually occupied residential street in the US.
On Sunday I got a great tour, with pictures to come. Occupy Philadelphia is camped outside City Hall. And props to them, since they are all camping on cement. The City Hall is gorgeous, by the way. I have been in Seattle for so long that I forgot how much I love old (relatively speaking -- "new" to Europeans, of course) buildings and history. We saw the famous "LOVE" sculpture. I stopped in at the Free Library of Philadelphia, the main branch downtown. As expected, it's a gorgeous building. I wasn't a huge fan of the children's department. It's an old branch, but I felt there was a lot more they could have done. But it was packed, and I was insanely jealous. The space was not particularly big, but they had FOUR staff people at the reference desk, and another one shelving. And they had their OWN SECURITY GUARD. Sigh...
We went on to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Again, the building was gorgeous, and even more amazing as we got closer. There was beautiful, detailed painting on the building that you can't see from a distance. And of course, at the bottom of the stairs, was a statue of Rocky. I hope it goes without saying that we took a picture. Behind the museum was the Fairmount Waterworks, a hydroelectric plant on the river, and a lovely park. Actually, I loved this historic center of Philly. It's sort of a massive park/mall surrounded by historic and/or old landmarks: the art museum, library, the Benjamin Franklin Institute, the science museum, the natural history museum, a gorgeous old cathedral, etc. It was very beautiful and fun.
On the way home, I saw the most hilarious thing. There was a couple standing on the sidewalk. I think they were waiting for something. Now I am not kidding about this: the woman was standing there squeezing her boyfriend's manboobs. Just standing there, squeezing away. Her boyfriend gave her an irritated look and stepped away. Then she says, all whiny, "Why are you mad at me?" Well, gee, I don't know? Maybe because you are out in public squeezing your boyfriend's manboobs?!?! You think? I thought he was actually very restrained. If I was him, I would have had a bit of a stronger reaction.
Then, of course, it being Sunday we went to a bar in Society Hill, which I also loved. It reminded me a lot of Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia, except a bit newer. The Steelers won (Go Stillers!).
Today, Monday, is a fantastic day. Sarah is working...in Trenton, NJ! Those of you who read Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books can imagine the heaven I'm in. We were early, so we got to drive around. Most of Trenton is exactly like I imagined it. Of course, Sarah and I were looking for specific things, one of which was Cluck-in-a-Bucket. We didn't find it, but we DID find "Cluck U Chicken." I was just as happy with that. I took a picture, which will be posted later. I also noticed what seemed to be an awful lot of fire stations in a relatively small area, but Sarah reminded me that this IS the hometown of Stephanie Plum, so of course. Now I am sitting in a Starbucks, which isn't very Trenton-like (although this place is busy), so my dreams will probably not come true, but I am waiting to see a Grandma Mazur, Lula, or, in my beautiful, beautiful dreams, a Ranger. We did see a black SUV with tinted windows, and I choose to believe Ranger was in there, although I would have been happy with Tank, too. Later I'm going to take a walk to the Public Library, which is just a block or two away, so maybe I'll get lucky.
Okay, pictures later, but I'll let you know if I have a Sighting.
I LOVED Elfreth's Alley too. So charming! But I wouldn't want people peeking in my windows all the time so would probably pass on living there. :)
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