Vacation in Philadelphia

(Warning — this is a longish post with lots of pictures, may take long to load.)

In April we went on vacation to the United States for a week. (It feels strange to call it a ‘vacation’ when all I did was go to my childhood home.) We visited the tri-state area of my youth: New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

We started in Philadelphia at my friend Alex’s house. Did I mention that Alex is a giant?

Ok, maybe not. His wife Becky has a huge dollhouse, so naturally we had to play Godzilla for a while.

(*Not Godzilla. This dragon came from from Ikea, so it’s Swedish… Borky-bork-zilla).

I’ve been to Philly before, but never as a tourist. So with a few hours to spare we all decided to take the sightseeing bus tour. Except for Becky, who was working that day (and also gestating).

We started off in the tourist center, getting a feel for the city’s history as the first capital of the United States and one of the birthplaces of democracy and the US constitution.

And nothing represents America better than Constance, the Constitution Cow.

It’s one of many cows, part of the worldwide “Cow Parade” project where artists paint life-size fiberglass cows to represent their city. It even has the Liberty Bell on its collar.

Philadelphia is also home of the first US Mint, responsible for making US coins and currency. We didn’t have time to visit the mint, so we had to settle for putting our faces on the $5 bill.

We took one last look at the map, and we were ready for the bus tour.

We were off to see Philadelphia! We saw all the top historical places — Betsy Ross’ house:

Ben Franklin’s grave and statue:

City Hall:

A museum: (the Franklin Institute, I think.)

The Funk-o-Mart (not famous or historical, I just like the name of it):

City Hall again, with a bronze statue of William Penn at the tippy-top:

And some other places. As you can tell, I wasn’t giving it my full attention. It was a coldish day and we were highly caffeinated from breakfast, so we were acting a bit silly at the back of the bus…

I’m a spider!

I’m a prairie dog!

I’m a three-headed monster!

What I found most bizarre about Philadelphia was its love for public artworks. They’ve got all kinds, from classical to modern, with no discernible pattern or rationale behind them.

For example: here’s a wonderful statue of George Washington on horseback… and a giant paper clip.

Here’s a cast of Rodin’s famous “Thinker” outside the Rodin Museum… and a man hailing a taxi.

*Note: I later discovered that the man is actually one of Philly’s mayors, Frank Rizzo.

Here’s Joan of Arc, and a steel tribute to Copernicus… but what connection they have with Philadelphia is a mystery to me.

There are lots of abstract sculptures, too. This one is called “Government of the People.” Mayor Rizzo hated this
statue, which is kind of ironic since his own statue is only a few yards
away.

I don’t know the name of this one. Let’s call it “Bunch of Red I-Beams”:

And the famous “LOVE” statue in JFK Plaza (aka Love Park).

*Intersting note: the “LOVE” image started as a design for a US postage stamp in 1973. The statue here wasn’t created and installed until 1976 for the US Bicentennial celebration.

But Philly’s love for public art isn’t limited to statues and sculptures. There are hundreds of building murals painted by local artists, mostly representing local events and culture. There was one alongside our parking lot.

There’s also guerilla street art, like the Stickman robots painted on the crosswalks (using the same paint material as the crosswalk lines, so they last for years).

And it may not be art, but where else can you see a “No Parking: Ride the Ducks” sign? (It refers to the duck tour vehicles, which provide tours from the river in amphibious boat-cars.)

After the bus tour we went to see the Liberty Bell.

*Interesting historical note: during the war of independence, the bell was hidden to prevent the British from capturing and melting it down to make cannons. It was smuggled out of town in a wagon, hidden under a pile of manure and hay. It was returned in 1778 after the British occupation ended. I’m happy to say that it was very clean and didn’t smell of manure, though I washed my hands afterward just to be on the safe side.

Then we made a piece of our own street art, striking a James Bond pose in holor of our 007 parking spot.

Tired and hungry, we went to Geno’s for a world-famous Philly cheesesteak and fries. Mmmmm! What a great way to end our tour.

Next up… New York City!