Philadelphia, PA

June 13, 2009

After a ‘goodbye' breakfast with my grandpas, my dad, and my brother, I got on the plane. It kinda shocked me as I was still waiting for it to ‘hit me'. I'd been telling everyone that it would probably ‘hit me' the night before that I was doing this alone when they asked if I was scared. In truth, even though I'd had a bit of a breakdown the night before (for other reasons), it still hasn't ‘hit me'. I'm just as excited as ever and hoping that it doesn't catch up with me on the plane to Europe.

On the plane from Las Vegas to Philadelphia I met an interesting older gentleman who was traveling with his 10-12 year old daughter. He told me about how he traveled with her often, introducing her to new cultures, ideas, and ways of life. It seemed like a wild idea at first, but intrigued me more and more as I thought on it. What I'm doing right now started as a wild idea as well.

After getting through the airport and finding the right train to get downtown I just needed to get in contact with my dad because he was supposed to give me directions to my host's work. However, he decided to take a nap and when he naps it is nearly impossible to wake him. While attempting to recall the directions and calling him a half a dozen times in a minute, I realized I couldn't be too mad at him because it was my own fault I'd forgotten the directions in the first place.

Two left turns and quite a few city blocks later I managed to get a hold of him as I sat on a bench outside of the Franklin Science Museum. I ended up being only one right turn away from my goal.

While walking that last block I happened to end up speaking to some shabby, nearly toothless guy on a bike. He told me he'd come from Detroit on bike, explaining the dangers of motor vehicles and telling me that he would be riding to Seattle and a couple other places before heading back to Detroit. What he was saying he was doing was pretty cool, but I couldn't help thinking of what everyone had always told me ... "Good first impressions mean everything". While I understand different situations, but I feel his message might have a little more power behind it. Then again, I might not remember what he'd said in another situation.

After my encounter with the bike guy I met up with my host, Joli. Right off the bat she was really cool and friendly. I waited about 30mins for her to get off work then headed to her house were I finally got a place to set my stuff down for a length of time.

After that we headed off to a film festival, which I believe was hosted by another CouchSurfer. Aside from 15 outta 30 or so, 5 second, funny clips, it was pretty stupid and filled with a lot of fake violence and insane amounts of gory situations. We left that after a bit with plans to meet up with some other CouchSurfers later. Between that I got the chance to listen to Joli's neighbor, Rich, play classical guitar, which was really good.

June 14, 2009

After waking up kinda late, looking for a couch in Frankfurt, Germany, contacting people in Europe and posting in the ‘Vegas Baby' group I managed to get outside and start exploring.

From my host's house I walked back to 20th and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where I was the day before, to get a couple pictures from the top of the stairs at the Science Museum. Then I took a quick look in the building before heading off to the art museum. The Art Museum was pretty amazing (but the stairs were killer). I somehow managed to get lost a couple of times in the building, which seemed 10x larger than it looked, and it already looked huge. After that it was off on foot to the Eastern State Penitentiary, which I thought I'd missed at one point, but realized a few seconds later that it would be had to miss, from what I'd seen the night before.

From there it was Tony Luke's, which was insanely far from where I was. So I took the subway for the first time, pretty much annoyed the lady behind the glass window to death asking too many questions, but managed to get all the answers I needed.

Just for the record, the subway station at Spring Garden and Broad St. is creepy. In the five minutes I waited for the train I heard two sounds I'll never be able to compare to anything else. The near silence, disturbed only by the dripping/bubbling of water. Then the sudden, growing roar of the train approaching.

From there I went to Oregon Ave. (the second to last stop) and then walked a mile or two to find out Tony Luke's was a rode-side stand ... However, my first cheesesteak ever was amazing. Thanks Dad for drilling that into my head with the constant reminder ... "You gotta go to Tony Luke's, you gotta go to Tony Luke's".

Next, I made my way over to Old City, saw the Liberty Bell, bought a magnet, and headed west on Arch in search of the ‘Reading Terminal Market'.

I didn't find the market, but enjoyed the walked that led me through what appeared to be China Town, to the subway where I worked my way back to my host's home. Oddly enough, I managed all day, walking around a city and didn't get lost, but that last stretch tripped me up and I managed to walk past my host's apartment building twice before having to call her and get directions. It was a pretty amazing day in Philly.

June 15, 2009

At 11th and arch, I some how managed to miss a rather large market place. ‘Reading Terminal Market'. After mentioning this to my host, we decided to go there for breakfast.

This morning I was up around 7:30am and managed to check my email, chat with some friends, and get backed up before 9:00 am. At that time, another CouchSurfer (Jonas?) showed up and we all went out to the market. As gathering coins for the meter, we went in and wandered around, trying to locate "Hope's Cookies" (?). Moment after finding it we realized that it might be good to eat breakfast before cookies.

We headed down to the "Down Home Diner" where the Amish disappointed Jonas again by not delivering the corned beef hash, Joli discovered the amazing-ness of ham + syrup + tomato, and I had some awesome buttermilk pancakes.

Once breakfast was over we made our way back to "Hope's Cookies", where were as amazing as Joli had said.

From there we dropped Jonas off at the Italian market and Joli dropped me off at 16th and Market St., where I walked one block to 15th and took the subway to 30th Street Station. With all my stuff on my back, I decided to wait around the station rather than wander around. I've got about two more hours till my train leaves.

Philadelphia Photobucket Album: http://s645.photobucket.com/albums/uu173/jordanftravels/Philadelphia%20PA%20-%20June%2013%202009/