Saturday 29 May 2010 – 137 miles today – 6589 miles to date
After a breakfast that consisted of 3 coffee’s from the hotel for me and Burger King for Caddy and Tents, we took off for Philly. It was only about 3 hours and we arrived just after lunch.
Philly is surrounded by water with the Delaware River to the east, forming the border with New Jersey and the Schuylkill River to the west. Delaware River is right on HWY 95 as we drove into the city and hosts the Independence Seaport Museum which is home to the USS Olympia…
The Olympia (C-6) is the oldest steel warship afloat in the world. Launched in San Francisco, CA, in 1892, she is similar to many early steel warships built in Philadelphia for the US Navy. more info.
First impressions of the city were that it was gritty (in a good way) and industrial on fringe of downtown with a mix of historic and modern architecture. The city is divided into distinct neighborhoods, each with their own character and set of draw-cards.
As per usual, we stumbled upon a decent car park the heart of it downtown called Washington Square West, which just so happened to be ‘The Gayborhood’ (not that there’s anything wrong with that). We fed the meter long enough to explore for a couple of hours which gave us a chance to check out the famous Reading Terminal Market, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (where both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted) and then down to the waterfront to check out the USS Olympia.
We decided that we liked Philly and wanted to stay for one night at least. The problem again was that it was Saturday night, Memorial Day Weekend and also the Flyers were playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. We sat in a coffee shop for over an hour trying to find a room at a decent price, within a short distance of downtown. Eventually Tents found one at Crowne Plaza which was about a 5 minute drive just to the north-west.
After picking up our mate Vladimir we checked in and chillaxed for a bit in the room. We had planned on taking a cab back downtown at night but getting a cab at all proved way harder than we expected. So after calling one and waiting for about 1/2 an hour, we ended up sharing with one other guy who suggested we go to another neighborhood nearby and have a drink with him at his mates bar. This turned out OK and we all bar hoped a bit and had a pretty good night.
Some of the finest (cheapest) beer known to man!
Old mate waiting for a bus
Pimped out van
Grafitti and b'ball court just north of downtown
Giant cell phone stuck onto a wall
Couple of gents doing a reenactment of the drafting of the Declaration of Independence
One of many giant murals in the city
Typical Georgian style architecture downtown
Independence Hall
USS Olympia
USS Olympia
The Moshulu floating restaurant
Giant American flag mural
With a major assist from The Sherwin-Williams Co., the city of Philadelphia in November, 2001 unveiled a huge,6,000-square-foot American flag mural painted on the side of a Philadelphia cold storage warehouse facing Interstate 95, in a project commemorating the tragic events of Sept. 11.
The reason why this was 6,000 square feet is when they planned this mural (late September) they had originally thought 6,000 people had died and so they dedicated a square foot per person. more info.
From Van to Van (without a plan) 