When I mentioned to several people that I was taking a trip with Kate to Philadelphia, a number of people raised an eye brow. Yes, it’s a city full of urban decay and much of it is pretty trashed. I don’t doubt that at all but there’s also some really interesting stuff there too.
We arrived in the city Friday afternoon and we decided to take a quick trip to the Insectarium. I couldn’t tell you why we wanted to go there now that I’ve experienced the place. It had a LOT of creepy crawly things that gave me the willies. Needless to say, I really didn’t take any pictures of it since many of the creatures were the stuff of nightmares. I don’t really have a phobia when it comes to insects but I could have gone without seeing these giant centipedes up close.
After having dinner at Pat’s, we made a trip to Independence Hall to see the big broken bell. Yep, it’s still broken. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see it up close since the exhibit was already closed for the day but I was able to get a picture of it from outside it’s glass enclosure.
Saturday morning, we headed over to the Eastern State Penitentiary to see if it was haunted. We didn’t see any ghosts but we sure took in quite an impressive piece of architecture. While most of the place is in different stages of decay, you’re able to walk around most of the place to see what it was like. There’s something beautiful about walls and walls of peeling paint. This is where I took most of my pictures for the weekend. I high recommend checking this place out if you’re ever in the area.
Later that afternoon, we went over the to Franklin Institute to check out the Star Trek exhibit as well as the rest of the museum. While it was cool to see some of the original consumes from the various series, I was slightly disappointed that many of the displays were recreations rather than authentic memorabilia. It was pretty awesome to be able to sit on a set from Next Generation, though.
The rest of the museum wasn’t very remarkable and I can probably attribute that to being spoiled by the Smithsonian. Granted, I’m not exactly a huge museum type person but I occasionally check them out with Kate since she likes them quite a bit. I’m still glad I went despite being a bit underwhelmed by the place.
Saturday night was spent driving around Philadelphia looking for an interesting place to eat. Let me tell you, the parking situation there is pretty bad. It’s expensive to park in any of the lots that are available and it’s very difficult to find an open spot on the street.
Since our GPS wasn’t being very helpful, we ended up taking a detour through some of the worst urban decay I’ve ever seen. I’m not trying to knock Philly or anything but this particular area was pretty gross. After an hour of driving around, we ended up going to Ruby Tuesdays which was just down the road from our hotel.
Before leaving town this morning, we went to the Mütter Museum. This was one of the most disturbing places I’ve ever been too and you REALLY should go there. I wish I had some pictures to show you but they don’t allow photography in the place. If you search around the net, though, you can find quite a bit of information on the place.
In the end, it was a good trip. It was the kind of vacation where we didn’t feel rushed by anything. Sometimes you come home from a trip and you feel like you need a vacation from your vacation. I’m glad to be back home and yet I feel quite ready to take on the week ahead.
you should have asked me about places to eat, as I spent 5 years at Drexel University… there’s lots of interesting shops on South Street, for instance
Yeah, I've been to South Street several times in the past. We just didn't really plan ahead enough when it came to eating out. We still had fun.