“Philadelphia fucking loves a sculpture”
We woke up at 5:30,got ready and headed to Port Authority bus station, for a bus going to Philadelphia.
It marked the first time I’d been on a bus in the US, and surprisingly, it was a pleasant journey. The two hours flew past in no time.
Once in Philadelphia, we made our way along Market Street until City Hall, where we saw ‘The Rocky Steps’ – poor art museum gets no love.
We got some pictures and video there before heading to ‘Sabrina’s’ for breakfast/lunch or, if you want to get all fancy, brunch.
We were joined at Sabrina’s by Dustin, a guy Paula knew. He ate with us and ended up paying the entire bill for us. Something he definitely didn’t have to do at all. Needless to say he seemed like a really nice guy.
After food, Dustin took Paula, on the back of his motorbike, away to see Roger another of her friends while we went to the Franklin Institute, and interactive museum, which, while mostly aimed at kids proved to be a lot of fun.
Unfortunately, while at the institute, I died.
They had a Titanic exhibition, before you enter they gave everyone a boarding card with details of a passenger – name, age, class, reason for travel, etc.
It was a pretty cool idea, once in, we all started talking about who we were. Hannah was a six year old girl, Acloud was Solomon Guggenheim.
As you walked around they showed artifacts from the ship and mock ups of the rooms on board.
They had a replica of the staircase and another of a large hallway which, whether intended or not, all made us feel slightly un-easy.
The exhibit ended with a section which documented the sinking. First iceberg sightings, attempts to get away from it, the realisation that the ship was doomed.
Then, on the far wall, was a list of all the passengers. The ones who made it and the ones who didn’t.
It was weird how attached to the person on your card you became, seeing I didn’t make it genuinely made me sad. My guy had a son though, and he did make it. So that’s something…
Paula got a taxi back to the institute to meet us, then we went to the train station to get tickets for the journey back to New York.
We then walked to Jim’s Steaks, which took us back the entire length of Market Street, then down through the historical district, which was really pretty.
After Jim’s we talked about going elsewhere, but tired and grumpy, we went to starbucks, for a drink and some comfort, before finally talking a taxi back to 30th Street station.
“What was that talk about trifle?”