Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

On Tuesday 27th September we flew from Chicago to Philadelphia, arriving at 5pm. From the airport we took an Uber to the Air BnB I had booked which was in a great location, about 20 minutes walk from the city centre. The sun was going down, but we decided to go for a wander to get the travel out of our system. We happened to find ourselves at the Art Museum Steps, aka the Rocky Steps, named for the starring role they play in the Rocky movies which were set in Philadelphia. It is obviously a popular place to work out in Philadelphia!

After the obligatory posed photo at the Rocky statue we grabbed a quick bite to eat and made our way back to our apartment. Philadelphia is proud of the part it played in the Rocky films, and you saw memorabilia and references to the movie throughout the city, including this statue in the visitor centre.

On Wednesday we had a big day of art gallery visiting. We spent several hours at the Barnes Foundation which holds a very impressive collection of post-impressionist and early modern paintings. There were 181 Renoirs alone, which is amongst the most held in a private collection anywhere in the world. The whole collection of over 900 paintings is estimated to be worth around 25 billion dollars (according to Wikipedia, font of all knowledge that it is...).

After the Barnes Foundation we just had time to also visit the Rodin Museum which is just across the road. This museum has a 'pay what you can afford' policy, which I really like. We only had an hour before the museum closed, so I paid what I thought was a fair amount for Will and I, taking our short visit time into account, and the attendant still asked if I wanted any change.

Rodin is my favourite sculptor, so I thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the museum. I really liked 'The Athlete', above. The Philadelphia Rodin Museum also has one of the three original bronze casts of his epic 'Gates of Hell'.

That night we went out for dinner with Will's colleague Ryan (who Will is co-authoring the Learning Classifier Systems textbook with) and another colleague Randy. I had met them both at the conference in Denver, so it was nice to see them again. They were the ones who first told me I should start playing Pokemon Go as I go about my travels!

On Thursday Will had a full day planned at the University of Pennsylvania where Ryan and his other colleagues are based. I filled in my time with a big day of sightseeing. Philadelphia has some lovely old buildings...

I've loved seeing the iconic yellow school buses as I've travelled around the States...

Shops were starting to put together some impressive Fall displays.

Philadelphia played an important part in American History, being the place where the United States Declaration of Independence, and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted. This all happened in Independence Hall, below.

You can take guided tours through Independence Hall for free, but you first need to physically go to the Visitor Centre where you are allocated a spot on the next available tour, which during busy times could be 2 or 3 hours away. They also have a system where you can pre-book a specific timeslot online for only $1.50. I did this in order to make the most of my time. Now I'm not a huge history buff, but I found the tour really interesting. Below is the actual courtroom where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated...

And below is the room where it was signed...

Look familiar???

While in the area I also went to check out the Liberty Bell which was very cool.

After the high-brow art of the previous day, today's offering was a bit more quirky... I paid a visit to  Philadelphia's Magic Gardens which was very enjoyable. A huge space filled with mosaics created from repurposed and recycled objects. It was loads of fun to wander around.

From there I made my way to the university via tram to meet Will. The University of Pennsylvania is in West Philadelphia (which makes me want to start singing the theme tune from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air!). Catching the tram was an interesting experience in that I was literally the only white person on the whole tram. It was a weird feeling, and did give me some insight into how some people must feel on a regular basis. Apparently the area the university is in is fine, but it starts to get pretty rough a few blocks west of the university.

At the university I met up with Will and Ryan and we were taken out for a very nice meal at a flash gastro-pub type place by Ryan's boss. I've lost track of the number of free lunches and dinners we've been treated to during our travels! We'll have to return the favour when any of the people we've met come to Wellington for a visit...

On Friday we checked out of our apartment and took an Uber to the bus station, ready for the next part of our adventure, and a place I'd been really looking forward to visiting: New York!