Philadelphia

I woke to a beautiful sunny day, with a wind that could cut through you . Every time the wind stopped it felt spring, I was literally freezing my ass off. I, however am no light weight sightseer. I wrapped up and walked across the city to the town hall. I cooled my heels for about thirty minutes before they decided that yes the tower was open and yes there was someone to operate the lift so I could go up. I would have climbed the stairs to the top if it would have got me to the top faster. I had a few things I wanted to do and those didn't include waiting around. I finally got my ticket and walked around the building to the visitor entrance, this was an adventure in itself. Walking through the town hall was surreal, the corridors were totally empty and I was a little concerned that I was lost. I wasn't and I found myself in front of a set of bland metal doors. When I was allowed through the doors I had to wait again. I was the only person on the observation deck when I did get up there. The deck is right below the statue of William Penn. There was a belief in the city that nothing should be built above the level of the statue. This went by the board in the mid 80's and it was then that the Philadelphia sports teams starting losing. The curse of William Penn had struck. In 2004 building started on the Comcast tower and when it was topped off in 2007 on the highest beam was placed a statue of Penn. The losing streak ended. I don't know if this is true but the locals believe it.
I went to the Rodin museum, who knew that they would be a Rodin museum in the city. The building and its contents were donated by Jules Mastbaum, a movie theatre magnet. The museum houses the largest collection of Rodins works outside of Paris. The statue the "thinker" used to sit outside, at the moment it is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I loved the museum, it is an awesome place to sit and think, no pun intended!The statues are amazing. My photos are better able to explain the feelings they generated for me. The Philadelphia Art Museum steps are featured in the Rocky movie, Rocky runs up them. Stallone had a statue made of his Rocky character and donated it to the museum. it now stands outside, at the bottom of the stairs. While I was there people were running up the stairs and doing the "Rocky salute". Very funny. Just as funny as the guy selling t-shirts at the bottom of the stairs with the "Eye of the Tiger" on his tape recorder. I didn't spend a lot of time in the art museum, I am bit over art museums at the moment. I need a break. And I know that I probably missed some amazing art, but that's just the way it goes.
I seem to be repeating myself on this trip, but I guess with the amount of time I am spending here in the U.S. that's unavoidable. I went on another prison tour at eastern State Penitentiary. The prison was originally built on a hill out in the country side but as the city grew the prison became surrounded by suburbia. Not the kind of neighbours that I would want. it was built on the premise that prisoners needed to spend all of their time alone to think about their crimes and to repent. Each prisoner had a large cell with it's own private exercise yard. This didn't last very long, more cell blocks were built and the exercise yards divided into mo0re cells. The prison was closed in 1971 and allowed to go to ruin. Only some of it has been partially restored now, it's this that makes the place so atmospheric. Unfortunately I had probably chosen one of the coldest days of the year to take the tour. It didn't help that most of the tour was outside or in the cell blocks which are unheated. Smart move. Al Capone was imprisoned here for a short time on a weapons charge, he got caught coming back from Canada with a gun. His cell has been restored, he didn't live too badly. Another inmate was "Pep", a cat murdering dog, he even had his own inmate number which can be seen in his mugshot!This place is great.
I spent the afternoon at the library, including the purchase of another book in the library store. I am not sure what I am doing. Jean had lent me six books to take with me, I do not need another book to carry. Ah what the hell, it's a book that's on my to read list and it was only $5. After dinner I went to the Comcast Tower, on the lobby wall they show a 3D show every hour through the day. The show wasn't that great compared to the Avatar movie. And yes I get it that is definitely a huge difference in the budget for a 20 minute show and a two hour movie which has James Cameron as it's director. Unfortunately I wasn't able to objective and judge the show on it's own merits. Cool location though.
My last morning I spent lazing around in the hostel. I walked to Chinatown and caught my bus to New York. This bus ride was a lot less dramatic than my first one. There were no screaming Asian females this time and a decent sized waiting room. We didn't even have to board on the street. I guess there are Chinatown buses and then there are Chinatown buses.