If you ask any seasoned New Yorker how often they like to escape from the constant and flurried movement and activity of this city, you're bound to hear the same response time and time again... "get out of here as often as you can... if not, well, good luck trying to stay sane."
In the days leading up to this past weekend, I found myself quickly rising to my tolerable level of perturbation. The slightest and most ridiculous things were getting under my skin, agitating me beyond belief. Maybe it was just a case of spring fever, maybe I'm more homesick than I once thought, or maybe I was becoming just too annoyed with the kitchen cockroaches who like to pay me a daily visit while I enjoy my breakfast. Whatever it was, I was desperately due for an escape.
Leaving the city of culture took me to the city of ideas and firsts... the country's first capital and the site of the first public bank, hospital, public newspaper and stock exchange, to name a few. Philadelphia welcomed me not only with scorching 30 degree Celcius weather, but also with a completely different feel and vibe from what I've become accustomed to in the past eight months. Though the City of Brotherly Love may be in a stage of hip and urban reinvention, I have to admit that despite walking all over the map, from the Museum District to Penn's Landing, the Old City Historic District to the upper crust Rittenhouse neighborhood of resolute old money, not every city can be a walker-friendly city like New York.
Getting away, even if it was just for a couple of days, certainly helped to shallow the waters of the pool of turmoil New York can very easily push you into. But since I was getting a little tired of treading water, it felt surprisingly good to be able to walk it all out in new and unfamiliar, but at times, shady territory. My initial impressions of the city may not take me back there anytime soon, but realizing I ceased to sample the quintessential Philly Cheesesteak, I could be visiting again at some point in the future. I'll be sure to rent a car though next time... some of those city streets just aren't meant to be walked alone.
City Hall, the largest municipal building in the country
View of Philadelphia's skyline and City Hall in the distance
The Philadelphia Museum of Art's monumental staircase, famous for its appearance in Rocky
Elfreth's Alley, the oldest residential street in the Nation
Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was debated and adopted
The Liberty Bell - an international icon of freedom and independence, and its famous gap, which was the result of an attempt to fix a crack which destroyed the bell's tone
The Benjamin Franklin Bridge arching over the Delaware River
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