This is the continuing saga of my visit to Philadelphia to see both my daughters and attend my eldest's graduation from medical school. In previous posts, we had breakfast on 20th St and then made for City Hall, then from there to Washington Square and Independence Historical Park, where my youngest departed. Lillie, the graduate, and I continued on exploring on foot.
From the park, we continued to head east towards the Delaware River and New Jersey, taking in the streetscapes that are so foreign out west. I was really taken by the window boxes on nearly every single street, reminding me a great deal of the great European cities.
Almost at the water and I-95, Lillie made sure to take me down Elfreth's Alley, which you can read about in the photo below, a wonderfully historic and narrow cobbled street with beautifully preserved buildings.
Penn's Landing
At this point, Lillie and I were pretty much at the eastern end of downtown by the river, so we walked up on the Market Street overpass over I-95 and walked to Penn's Landing (named in honor of William Penn's landing here in 1682) right on the water where we had a great view of the Ben Franklin bridge over to Camden, NJ. Coming in from the airport up I-95 last night, we got to see it all lit up.
 |
| Penn's Landing, Ben Franklin Bridge |
 |
| Lone Mallard, Adventure Aquarium in Camden |
 |
| WWII Battleship USS New Jersey Across the River |
 |
| Swan Boats in Penn's Landing Marina |
 |
| Locks on the Philadelphia Hope Fence |
 |
| Flags at the Marina |
 |
| USS Olympia Cruiser at the Independence Seaport Museum |
Society Hill
Lillie needed to get back to where she was staying (couch surfing because her lease in Philly is up and she has moved all her stuff to her apartment in North Carolina in preparation for starting residency) for some event she had going on at 3:00 and then had to fetch her mother from the train station at 4:00. So we started making our way back west to the center of town where she would stop and I would keep going to my hotel to get myself presentable for our 5:00pm dinner. Our route took us through Society Hill which is a wonderful neighborhood of old row houses.
 |
| Pussy Willows in a Window Box? It Works. |
I think I broke Lillie on our walk. I am used to walking many miles a day, so the five- or six-mile walk in Philly, despite the humidity and pollen, was nothing to me. But I could see that she was really starting to drag.
 |
| Resting: I Think I Broke Lillie |
After parting company with Lillie around 15th St, I continued on to my hotel at 19th for a shower and a much needed rest, before changing for dinner. Around 4:30, we met near the hotel on Broad St where my ex was staying; she had just arrived from the train station. From there, the three of us walked just a few blocks to Ellie's new apartment to meet her boyfriend, see her new digs, and from there, make our way to the train station for our trip to the restaurant situated on the edge of Fishtown. I took advantage of the walk to photograph some things I found interesting.
 |
| Neoclassical Bank Building Now Houses the Ritz |
And so it was news to me when I found out that we were going to meet Ellie's boyfriend Jolshua at their apartment. My youngest is not communicative (with anyone and especially with dad) and so it came as a bit of a "Say what!?" moment for me when I found out that they have been together since October of last year. They have an apartment and furnishings that are far nicer than anything I ever had when I was their age. We took our leave of Jolshua and the four of us walked to a nearby subway stop for our dinner at Laser Wolf. See the
photos in the next post.
 |
| Ellie and Jolshua |
No comments:
Post a Comment