Philadelphia. A 1,5 hours train ride from Penn Station, it was its proximity to the City that made it an ideal getaway – the first one since we’d landed in New York more than six months earlier.
Also, I found leaving from Pennsylvania Station in New York City, which sits between 31st & 33rd Streets, and arriving at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, utterly amusing; there couldn’t have been a better link connecting the two cities.
First impressions on arrival at the 30th Street Station and out on Market Street:
a) where is everybody…? Car traffic flowing, a few people on pavements, human walking speed, average noise level. That’s what living in New York City for longer periods of time does to you, I’d been warned about this: you forget there is another world out there, less tall, less noisy, slow-paced, taking things easy.
b) eclectic architecture: Victorian, Greek Revival, Rennaisance, live together with red brick townhouses and glass/concrete skyscrapers.
First walk: Market St. to 19th St., across Rittenhouse Square to Pine St., upscale with an artistic touch, renovated townhouses, small boutiques, antique shops, a lovely dog school and the first hospital in the U.S., still very much in use.
It was only a short five-day trip but such a rich experience – so much so that Philadelphia will monopolize these pages for the next thirty days or so.
Next stop: Washington Square, Liberty Bell and Independence Hall
Philadelphia
February 21st, 2017
