Superstork 2017

Back East - Philly

We took the Megabus from NYC to Philadelphia on Monday, May 8, Lorri's birthday.

Approaching the Ben Franklin Bridge over the Delaware River.

We checked in to our hotel, the "Wyndham Historic District" and were a little disappointed in the room. It was sort of shabby and dated. We expected more from a Wyndham.

Anyway, we settled in then went exploring the neighborhood. (Translation: we went looking for a place to get a cocktail!)

We found what we were looking for.

A Belgian beer perhaps?

Wine, maybe?

Yes, of course, wine! For Lorri's birthday!

I think this is the prep area at a place called "Amada" where we had dinner.

Tuesday

We toured the Italian Market area of South Philly and discovered that a guy named Isaiah Zagar has been busy re-decorating a large portion of South Street with his mosaics and murals.

They pop up everywhere you look

a little Picasso influence?

Some Gaudí, maybe? What does it all mean?

This supposedly is a self-portrait. Even though Zagar is right-handed, he portrays himself as left-handed because he believes left-handers are more creative. He has three left hands to emphasize how fast he works. At least that's what our guide told us.

First food stop was this bakery. In my experience, there is nothing quite like fresh-baked Italian bread from Philadelphia, and I've been to Italy.

I think that's why you can't get a really good cheesesteak anywhere but Philly. It's the roll, baby!

Former Police Chief and Mayor from 1972 to 1980, Frank Rizzo is an Italian-American legend in Philadelphia. He was quite the character. You could Google him.

Di Bruno Brothers House of Cheese!

...and Claudio's Specialty Foods

Are you kidding me? Are we in Italy?

Cheeses! 

More cheese!

A foodie's paradise 

This place reminded me of Rome

Di Bruno's looking one way.

Di Bruno's looking the other way.

Da cheeses...

I don't have many good photos of Fante's, but it's a locally owned kitchen store that easily blows away Sur la Table or Williams Sonoma

They have everything...and more! They have stuff you didn't know even existed but you immediately know you need whatever it is.

Finally we get to the corner of Pat's and Geno's.

Locals will direct you away from here, but it's one place you need to see if you go to Philly. You can get a good cheesesteak somewhere else

Or you can try Pat's

...or Geno's

Something was going on here with TV cameras and celebrities we didn't recognize, so we didn't hang around.

More of the work of Zagar

One man's junk is another man's art

The guy is still alive and kickin'

Pig? Rat? Dog?

We tried the Reading Market but it was way too crowded at lunch time on a Tuesday.

William Penn atop City Hall 

Flowers in front of the Liberty Bell building, at least I think that's where the thing is these days.

They were doing some maintenance on Independence Hall

Drinks at Mac's Tavern, dinner at Panorama, after dinner drinks at the Red Owl

On Wednesday we visited for the first time, The Museum of the American Revolution

They had their grand opening in April

April 19

"...governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..." My, how far away have we strayed from this ideal?!

Peyton Randolph resided in Williamsburg, VA. We've been in his house!

Yes, the promise has been expanding, rather slowly, compared to the expanded bloat of the government itself. As a member of "the governed" I gladly give my consent to more equality and for what it's worth, withhold my consent for more governmental bureaucracy.

Hey, what about Betsy Ross?

Finally, the answer to why they were called Hessians!

Answer: because the were from Hesse! Duh.

I'm posting this stuff about the Battle of Cowpens in honor of my brother, Bob "Hobble" Hill. He is a major Colonial Era History Geek and his favorite Revolutionary War battle is, you guessed it, Cowpens!

So now, if you ever meet him, you can say "yeah, Cowpens, we sure gave them Tarletons a devil of a whipping there, didn't we?"

You have to hand it to good ole General Morgan. He was only a Captain when he invented that spiced rum all the kids drink.

G.W.

Interesting. I agree that this is "the most perfect likeness" of George, and I've seen a lot of paintings of him although I did not know him personally.

OK. I'm not funny. Stop looking at me like that.

Lorri sitting in the Rising Sun chair. How do we know it's rising and not setting? Ben Franklin said so.

OK, enough history. Let's go get some cheesesteaks!

Loved this sign.

And this sign. Do the young folks even know who this talented musician is? OK, pick one and email your answer a) Curly, b) Larry or c) Moe

OMG! Heaven on a bun! And almost heaven in a can!

Jim's!

There are your menu choices. You can get a Steak, Cheese Steak, Mushroom Steak, Steak Hoagie, Pizza Steak, and some other stuff.

My advice is to get a Cheese Steak wit whiz and fried onions. I admit I also add ketchup to mine but it's OK because I put ketchup on everything.

After a hearty lunch we Lyfted up the Art Museum area to say hello to Rocky.

Yo, Rocky!

We then walked up along the Schuylkill River. By the way, I'm one of the few people, including Philadelphians, who can spell "Schuylkill" without looking it up.

The Skookle River

Part of the River Park

One picture is worth a thousand words. OK, in this case, maybe a hundred.

One of the boat houses

The houses are big enough to store eight-man shells and have room left over to hang out, take showers, drink beer, order out for pizza,  and so on.

Here you can sort of see the back of a house with a dock where the boats are launched.

Looking across the river toward downtown.

Joan of Arc

Wait. Joan had nothing to do with the French Revolution, did she? I would prefer Marie Antoinette leaning out the castle window shouting "let them eat cake!"

We visited the Barnes Foundation Museum and saw a couple hundred mostly post-Impressionist paintings. It's an impressive place. No photography inside.

We may have had dinner here.

Thursday. Time to head to Baltimore. We went for a walk in the morning to Penn's Landing. The weather had turned cool and windy again. Above is a school group in front of the Betsy Ross house. Did I mention that school groups were everywhere?

Looking north along the Delaware River toward the Ben Franklin Bridge.

Good-bye Philadelphia!

I attended Drexel at night for three years in an attempt to get a degree in architecture.

The Megabus pick-up point is near 30th Street Station, not far from Drexel and University of Pennsylvania.

So we're tooling down the Jersey turnpike playing tag with another Megabus which was also heading south. But the sigh on the front said "New York" so I was wondering if they were lost and going the wrong direction.