Then it was hello Philadelphia, or Phila, or Philly! We stayed at the local Holiday Inn which was a good choice as it was near the historical centre and we could have a good look around.
But Phila... wasn't my most favourite place in the trip. To get straight to the truth, it smelled like piss and quite often like sewerage, and within two blocks of stepping out of our hotel, we were asked for money.
Philadelpia is the sort of place that I believe would be ideal if I were 20 or so, wanting to go away for a weekend, see some great music, hang out in dark bars and get off into the drinking side of things etc. Might have been a good idea a few years back, but these days I find it just a bit too edgy for my liking, if not straight out confronting at times!
Mark and I went to South Street for dinner, it's sort of like a hepped up Newtown, and I tell you, if Philly has one thing going for it, it is ladies' accessory stores! Big gold earrings? check. Fake gucci scarf? check. Fluorescent sunglasses? check! Again, if I was around 22 I could have gone wild!
South Street, Philadelphia.
Mark and I went to see the Liberty Bell and the Georgian architecture in the area was also pretty impressive. It was unfortunate that we did not have so much time to get into the historical side of things properly, which could have thrown a different light on the whole Philadelphia experience.
We did however, make it to The Philadelphia Museum of Art, which may be a little more familiar to you than you may first think... because, this museum is featured in the 'Rocky' film where Sylvester Stallone runs up the stairs during training, punching the air! There is even a bronze statue of him out the front, and the museum itself is one of the largest in the USA, with whole rooms full of Renoirs, Motherwells, a beautiful case of Cornells, and a whole room of Twomblys. This museum has to be a great secret to international tourists like ourselves, the collection rivaled MOMA but there was nowhere near the crowding! There is also a Rodin Museum in the same area but we sadly did not have the time...
The Philadelphia Museum of Art - check out those stairs!
One highlight though was visiting the Reading Terminal, which was like a giant indoor farmer's market... and it had a few Amish stores! We ended up eating homemade blueberry Amish pancakes, $10 for two people. Wonderful! If there was anything like this near my place in Sydney I'd kill it!
We now have made it back to Hoboken in one piece, and we are staying in Tim and Fabienne's brand new place, which is actually set out much like the old one, just brand spanking new and shiny and a little closer to the action.
So now it's all setting in... the idea of getting on a plane for 22 hours and coming back to reality. arrghh! It really does set your mind off overtime, at times all sorts of stange thoughts and possibilities can take over! But just one moment at a time, easy come, and easy I will go...
xx