Philadelphia Scenes

Our next stop, September 17th-19th, was Philadelphia, mostly for the museums, but for other things too. It didn't take us long to discern that we had not budgeted enough days for this city, which we found impressive. We had never been to Philadelphia before, traveling mostly in RVs, which do not lend themselves to city visits. We stayed in a downtown hotel, walking to most sights, doing the shared ride thing when distance or fatigue required.

Impressive sculpture throughout the center city

Philly's favorite son overlooking his parkway

A rock garden, sort of, reminiscent of the Stones of Stenness

Speaking of rock, Philly's other favorite son

GW is seen all around Philly too

Joe Frazier

The Rocky temporary gift shoppe at the bottom of the Rocky steps;
interestingly, to me, the shoppe, a paean to the Great White Hope,
was staffed entirely by persons of African descent

Great White Hope statue at the top of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art steps, one of the city's icons (!)

Other statues, not as conspicuously placed, outside the
museum...the Charioteer of Delphi, cast from the original,
a gift from the people of Greece, "the cradle of democracy
in the ancient world to the cradle of democracy in the new
world..."

What DC will soon look like; your tax dollars at work

Skyline from within the great museum

Rare dorsal view

After our first day at the museum, we ventured to some recommended
resto for an obligatory Philadelphia cheesesteak; above, my half; we
both agreed it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience

Local sentiment

More sculpture

Mary Dyer, Quaker martyr, at the Friends Center

Entrance to Chinatown

Parking lot sculpture; really

Independence Hall

One wonders how the Republicans' desire to twist history to their
advantage will eventually bear on all this

The Liberty Bell

GW again

We never did divine what this automaton was up to, except for waiting
for the light to change; Google Lens now informs us that it is an Uber Eats 
delivery vehicle; soon we'll have pizzas dropping from drones..."manna
from heaven"

Free Library of Philadelphia; a twin building next to it on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway is the
Family Court Building; the two were inspired by the Hotel de Crillon and the Hotel de la Marine, at the Place de la Concorde, in Paris; Ben would have approved

Shakespeare Monument

Mole Street, a rare couple of two-story 18th century blocks in the heart of the central downtown

Neighboring buildings

Local sentiment

City Hall, with statue of Penn atop...for many years, it was
agreed that no structure in the city would be taller than Billy's
statue...

Until the deco echo Liberty Place came along in the 1980s