I’m finally getting around to posting at least some pictures from my recent trip to the East Coast.
The first stage was a visit to the Philadelphia area and my brother David & sister-in-law Shirley. The time I spent with my family back during Thanksgiving, going through my mother’s house, reminded me that I actually do enjoy my siblings. So the fact that Mythcon this year was in Connecticut gave me an excuse to go visit. It turned out that their son Justin was also at home, so I got to get to know him better as well. It was very amusing to watch Justin call his father on his bull, but it was also very funny to see Justin carrying on and arguing in Precise David Mode. Boy! Did it take me back! Heh.
Anyway, David and Justin graciously hosted me to a very touristy visit to the historic areas of Philadelphia. All the years they’ve lived in the Philly suburbs, and they hadn’t “seen the sights”. It was a lot of walking, but worth it.
Of course, we checked out the Liberty Bell.
Liberty Bell
It took a bit of patience to get this shot without bunches of people posing in front of the Bell. I understand the impulse, that “I was there!” documentation. But I just wanted a shot of the Bell. (I did get one with my brother & nephew in front of it, but haven’t uploaded it) My brother appreciated the layout of the Bell’s housing, with this window perfectly lined up with Independence Hall in the background. He called that very smart thinking. It does make for a nice picture!
We missed the timing for a tour of the inside of Independence Hall, and instead had lunch around the plaza. From there, we checked out the museum that’s dedicated to the Constitution. Multimedia displays and very interesting. The finale of the circuit of the Constitution museum is what is called Signer’s Hall. I believe it is based on a painting of the signing of the Constitution. What they’ve done is create full size bronze statues of the Signers positions throughout this Hall, and visitors can move amongst the figures.
Like this picture of my nephew Justin resting his arm on the sholder of one of the figures.
Justin with the statues in the Constitution Room
The interactive part of this room is a visitor’s book opened on the Signing Table. It’s partly just a visitor’s book where you can sign your name, but it’s also a challenge of whether or not you would put your signature to this radical new document, the Constitution. I did.
Sign the guest book
From there we took the tour of downtown Philly in the Ducks — amphibious trucks built during World War II. My brother appreciated it, in that he didn’t know where many of the landmarks were, and once you see them from the Duck, you realize that some of them would be very nice destinations — like the Betsy Ross House, which has a lovely garden beside it that is a nice place to stop. Then they took the Duck out on the river! It cruises downriver a bit, then turns back to the ramp. “Duck” is a good name for the vehicle when it’s on the water — it waddles along, not particularly fast or manouverable. But it definitely is amphibious. Unfortunately, my camera battery gave out just as we reached the Duck part of our excursion, so I didn’t get any pictures of it. As part of the tour, the tourists are given quackers, which are cheerfully blown when we were on the water. My 20 year old nephew began with some disdain for this corny bit of entertainment, but the silly fun of the quackers is infectious, and he gave into it, quacking away with the rest of us as we came back up on land.
The next day, David and Shirley and I visited the Philadelphia Art Museum. We didn’t see the whole museum, but we did spend a lot of time on the main floor. The highlight of this for me was the collection of Impressionist paintings. It’s a favorite period of mine. And although Van Gogh is a favorite artist of mine, this was the first time I’d seen so many Monets in person. I was entranced. I shall now have to do some studying of Monet. This excursion turned out to be more important to me personally than I’d expected. This is mainly because I’m looking forward to getting back into doing more artwork, painting in particular. Seeing these paintings was like having a thirst you didn’t know existed quenched with clear crisp water. I then treated David and Shirley to the brunch buffet the museum restaurant offered. That was good food!
Justin’s goodbye
I’d arrived Friday evening. Monday morning I headed up to New York City by train. My brother took the day off to go with me (but that’s another post). I should note that Justin had given up his bedroom for me for the duration of the visit. I really appreciated it. Here’s my nephew offering his good-bye that morning. Heh.
