5 A.D.
Q. What's wrong with this picture?
I'll leave you to ponder that and tell you at the end of this entry. Yesterday I left off with the news that I was heading to K-Mart for shorts...I didn't buy any. $27 a pair? That's dearer than Primarni! I'll wait `til we get further south, where I am assured that prices go down. Philadelphia isn't as expensive as New York, but it's not far off.
Yesterday evening we headed out for a bite and a beer, stopping at a place called Lulu's where pizza was on offer. We got chatting to a lad named Chaz (originally from Atlantic City) who recommended we try the locally-brewed beer named "Yuengling", supposedly brewed longer than any other beer in the country, and damn fine it was too. We spent about an hour and a half at Lulu's, discussing religion, politics and everything inbetween, especially those good-old major differences between the US and the UK. Chaz is a musician and his favourite Beatles album is The White Album. He even bought us our second Yuengling of the evening, but even without that bonus it was great to have taken part in our first barroom banter with the natives. Let's just hope Chaz sticks to his word and goes to travel Europe some day.
We left Lulu's and continued eastwards until we got to the Delaware river, on the other side of which is Camden, New Jersey. The bridge in the above shot is named after Benjamin Franklin, as is pretty much everything else in this town. Philadelphia was the original capital of the US from 1790 until 1800 and it rose up to its height during the industrial revolution, particularly through steel production. Here endeth the history lesson for now. We walked up and down the pierside looking for a place we'd seen on the map that played hot, smooth jazz. We failed to find it. And so we walked back to the Society Inn Hotel and drank a couple of "Tecante" beers in the bar next door.
A - there are no curtains on the window to the right (as I'm sure you guessed). I had to hang a blanket over it to block out the light.
We slept pretty soundly on our double bed, though I later discovered I'd been bitten on both elbows (though not by Tim). Even so, I feel like a piece of meat. After the regulatory morning apples, we walked west towards downtown, though we'd been warned against crossing the river into West Philadelphia - it may have been where the Fresh Prince was born and raised, but it's far too dangerous a place for us to spend our days. We did the toursity areas very quickly - the original state bank here, the first Quaker meeting house there and finally we took our place in the queue to see the infamous Liberty Bell.
Yes, yes, I know it's just a bell (and a bell with a huge crack in it for that matter), but it's more what it symbolises than what it looks like. It represents freedom for all of the American people, even though it hasn't been rung for about 150 years. And it was free to view, which was great for budgetary reasons.
Burp!
Q. What's wrong with this picture?
I'll leave you to ponder that and tell you at the end of this entry. Yesterday I left off with the news that I was heading to K-Mart for shorts...I didn't buy any. $27 a pair? That's dearer than Primarni! I'll wait `til we get further south, where I am assured that prices go down. Philadelphia isn't as expensive as New York, but it's not far off.
Yesterday evening we headed out for a bite and a beer, stopping at a place called Lulu's where pizza was on offer. We got chatting to a lad named Chaz (originally from Atlantic City) who recommended we try the locally-brewed beer named "Yuengling", supposedly brewed longer than any other beer in the country, and damn fine it was too. We spent about an hour and a half at Lulu's, discussing religion, politics and everything inbetween, especially those good-old major differences between the US and the UK. Chaz is a musician and his favourite Beatles album is The White Album. He even bought us our second Yuengling of the evening, but even without that bonus it was great to have taken part in our first barroom banter with the natives. Let's just hope Chaz sticks to his word and goes to travel Europe some day.
We left Lulu's and continued eastwards until we got to the Delaware river, on the other side of which is Camden, New Jersey. The bridge in the above shot is named after Benjamin Franklin, as is pretty much everything else in this town. Philadelphia was the original capital of the US from 1790 until 1800 and it rose up to its height during the industrial revolution, particularly through steel production. Here endeth the history lesson for now. We walked up and down the pierside looking for a place we'd seen on the map that played hot, smooth jazz. We failed to find it. And so we walked back to the Society Inn Hotel and drank a couple of "Tecante" beers in the bar next door.
A - there are no curtains on the window to the right (as I'm sure you guessed). I had to hang a blanket over it to block out the light.
We slept pretty soundly on our double bed, though I later discovered I'd been bitten on both elbows (though not by Tim). Even so, I feel like a piece of meat. After the regulatory morning apples, we walked west towards downtown, though we'd been warned against crossing the river into West Philadelphia - it may have been where the Fresh Prince was born and raised, but it's far too dangerous a place for us to spend our days. We did the toursity areas very quickly - the original state bank here, the first Quaker meeting house there and finally we took our place in the queue to see the infamous Liberty Bell.
Yes, yes, I know it's just a bell (and a bell with a huge crack in it for that matter), but it's more what it symbolises than what it looks like. It represents freedom for all of the American people, even though it hasn't been rung for about 150 years. And it was free to view, which was great for budgetary reasons.
We continued into downtown and back to the Greyhound terminal to try and reserve seats on the 10 am to Washington D.C. tomorrow, but we were told that we'd have to just turn up on the day. We didn't have that problem in New York and I'm wondering if the Greyhound staff are getting together to try and thwart us at every turn for their own sick enjoyment.
We headed north west across the city, past a mixture of old industrial buildings and murals like the ones above. Skies were cloudy overhead and the temperature not too high, which was fine by me, given how humid it normally is in this town in June. And Chaz said that the whole of the area used to be swamp, but I won't be keeping an eye out for any alligators that have survived in the sewers.
The Rodin sculpture meant we'd reached the Philadelphia Museum of Art and that just meant one thing...nope, forget the exhibitions for Cezanne, Gaugin and Matisse, we were there for...The Rocky Steps! If you haven't seen the film, it features Sly Stallone training so hard for his fight with Apollo Creed that he runs all of the way up the steps and does some euphoric jumping with arms waving in the air. And so did we. It may have needed several takes to get it absolutely spot on, but we were able to capture both of us doing our best Rocky impersonations for the camcorder. I'd love to upload the footage for the blog, but it would take far too long. Maybe I'll sell it on later as part of a DVD compilation of the best moments of the trip.
After all that exercise, it was all we could do to find a street vendor and buy the cuisine that Philly is famous for - the cheese steak. Now, I know it's a bit of risk eating from the mobile greasy spoons, but we bought them in the CBD and made sure it was a well-visited place. And the guy did at least have plastic gloves on. And how did the cheese steaks taste? Just like the Prince - fresh!
