My brother collected me from the airport in Vermont the next day after a very bumpy one hour flight. We drove home where his daughter (whose second birthday was the next day) looked at me with an initial suspicion. When I pointed out the photograph of us hanging from the wall she thawed. Within minutes she was calling me Unka. We headed to the park where she had the best time on the slides and the swings. We dined at a fine Mexican dining establishment before heading home where her Mommy was waiting for her. That evening we watched ‘Witness’ with Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis – which was not nearly as gripping as the first time I saw the film about forty years ago.
The following day was a day of birthday celebrations. After playing with blue balloons (seemingly her favourite colour) we went to the Monkey Do indoor children’s playground where the morose staff looked as if life had defeated them. The children present were delirious with joy however which was the purpose of the place. Sitting in the back seat of the car on the way home my niece and I amused ourselves by trying to reach for the grab handle above each car seat. Bravely I tried to reach for all four handles but as I explained to her my arms were too short to reach Mommy and Daddy’s. They contributed by reaching for their own. It was most amusing. I am a good Unka. In the evening my brother and I headed out to the Grand Point North music festival at the Waterfront Park in Burlington which was founded and headlined by local musician Grace Potter. Darryl Hannah’s ex-boyfriend Jackson Brown was second on the bill. He gave a very impressive performance. Before Grace Potter was announced there was a surprise onstage appearance by Vermont legend Senator Bernie Sander. I felt genuinely starstruck when I saw him. He gave a short, rousing speech about supporting local music. Vermont is renowned for its hippy ideals but a MAGA man beside me in the audience was less than impressed as he hissed ‘You don’t have a Vermont accent Sanders’. I gave him a frosty look which I am sure taught him a lesson.
The following morning we drove to Sneakers Bistro for an omelette breakfast in the town of Winooski which is an outcrop of Burlington (the largest city in the state with a population of forty-five thousand people. I am almost a local here at this point having visited on every occasion I have been to Vermont. After breakfast we visited the Shelburne Museum of Art where a very interesting Norman Rockwell collection was on display. In the afternoon I bid my niece and her Mommy farewell before my brother drove me to the airport where my flight back to Philadelphia was scheduled.
I checked into my apartment in the Fairmount district (close to Center City) and immediately went out to the local Aldi to buy sustenance for the days ahead.
The following day was a day of culture. I walked forty minutes to the Philadelphia Museum of Art – a museum famed not only for its impressive building and incredible America, European and Asian artworks but also from a film scene in the 1970s movie ‘Rocky’ where our plucky hero Sylvester Stallone uses the steps up to the museum as part of his training ritual. There is a statue of Rocky on top of these steps where hundreds of people gather every day to take a selfie. I did the same while muttering Sylvester’s famous line ‘Adrienne!!!’ under my breath – an action that I suspect many people do. I also took a picture the statue of real life boxer and local legend Joe Frazier who was world heavyweight champion in the 1970s and became the first boxer to beat Muhammad Ali. I spent three hours in the Museum – which has a hefty thirty two dollar entry fee. A deeply impressive museum. As always happens when I visit a monumental art gallery I started to get brain fog after a few hours. I departed and walked to the nearby Rodin Museum which my already purchased Philadelphia Museum of Art ticket allowed me access. Having had my fill of art for the day I walked up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to reach the Reading Terminal Market in Center City. This is an indoor farmer’s market in a converted train station with hundreds of vendors selling their wares. I dined at Hershel’s East Side deli – an old Jewish deli similar to Katz’s deli in New York. I ordered the famed pastrami Reuben sandwich. Served on rye bread with provolone cheese and mustard it was initially very tasty. The meat sweats starting kicking in for the second half of the sandwich so I packed it into my bag for later consumption. What surprised me when paying (at every establishment including coffee shops) is that on the machine where you pay there is a request for tips and the amount you wish to leave. I had queued in line for the sandwich and afterwards found my own seat. A twenty five percent tip seemed somewhat excessive. Feeling very unAmerican I pressed the ‘No tip’ button and scurried away. I understand that tipping is essential for sit down meals as waitstaff earn a pittance. I draw the line when it comes to tipping for waiting in line in a deli or coffee shop.
At 4pm I had a ticket booked for a tour of Independence Hall where the US declared independence from Britain in 1776. This free tour lasts fifteen minutes and you see the original supreme Court and the room where the Constitution was signed. I asked the guide a question at the end which she answered and then quietly said ‘Do you see that group over there? They are getting a guided tour of the Congress building where Congress first sat. If you’d like you can join them’. I trotted over. There is a painting of Marie Antoinette (a gift from France) in a room upstairs in the Congress Building. Liberty Bell sits in a custom designed building in the square outside Independence Hall. It was 4.55pm – the building shut at 5. I was the last person to be granted access that day. It was enough time. An important historical object for sure. But nonetheless a metal bell with a crack.
I enjoyed a glass of cider in a pub named Writer’s Block Rehab before making my way home (on the subway – my legs were tired after walking twenty kilometres that day) where I ordered chicken and broccoli from Ming Kong’s Chinese takeout close to my apartment.
On Tuesday I visited the Eastern State Penitentiary – a former prison where Al Capone spent time in jail. One in twenty eight American children has had a parent in jail according to the exhibit on display.
Then I went to Reading Terminal Market where I ate half a Philly cheese steak from the Down Home diner. I won’t be repeating this. I know the city is famed for these sandwiches but they are very greasy.
Afterwards to Giovanni’s Room.. Named after the James Baldwin novel it is the oldest LGBT bookstore in the world having first opened its doors in 1973. I bought ‘City of night’ by John Rechy.
Onward to Elfreth’s Alley – the oldest continually inhabited street in the USA having been built in 1709. Very pretty. Then it started pouring rain so I dived into a bar called Paddy’s for shelter. Through the thick fug of cigarette smoke I saw some pictures of the homeland on the wall. The barmaid completely ignored me – although she saw me come in. Too busy enjoying her cigarette and chatting with her pals. After a few minutes I walked out.
By which time the rain had stopped. I made my way home to get ready for tonight’s event – a mystery screening of a movie in a bar called Tattooed Mom. However it had started raining again by the time I got home – the persistent, penetrating type of rain. So I cancelled the ticket and ordered hot and sour soup from Ming Kong’s Chinese restaurant next door.
Wednesday’s excursion saw me boarding an Amtrak train at the splendid William Penn III Train Station in Philadelphia, bound for Baltimore. US train stations tend to be quite spectacular – clearly built in a time before cars. The journey takes about seventy five minutes and I bought a return ticket for forty dollars which seemed reasonable.
Baltimore has always had a dodgy reputation – not least because of the TV show ‘The Wire’. I had my own reasons for going – I have long been a fan of John Waters and the Dreamlanders and the thrashy exploitation movies they made in Baltimore in the 1970s.
I was pleasantly surprised. The Inner Harbor is pretty. I ate a lump crab cake in a harbourside seafood restaurant for lunch – for which the city is famed. I took in the views from the observation deck on the top floor of the World Trade Centre. Then I strolled over to Fell’s Point – the old harbour area where the egg-lady Edith Massey worked in a bar before getting cast in ‘Multiple Maniacs’ by John Waters. I had a beer at ‘The horse you came in on’ – a saloon that has been running since 1796. ‘Police Academy 2’ was playing on the screen. Kim Cattrall looked like a baby.
I made my way on the train back to Philly. Ming Kong’s was closed tonight so instead I ate a curry from the Spicy Masala Kitchen restaurant next door.
On Thursday evening I attended the Highmark Mann outdoor arena in west Philadelphia so see to co-headlining tour between Willie Nelson and Darry Hannah’s current husband Neil Young. At ninety-three years old Willie Nelson looks fairly frail but remained in good voice and high spirits as he sang his classics ‘On the road again’; Mommas don’t let your sons grow up to be cowboys’ and a more recent number called ‘Roll me up and smoke me when I die’.
On my final full day in Philadelphia I went to the Barnes Foundation- an art gallery that does not say who the artist is – you either guess or use an app to identify the pieces. I used the app and saw works by Renoir, Cezanne, Picasso, Van Gogh, Modigliani or Rousseau. Afterwards an underwhelming roast pork sandwich at DiNic’s at Reading Terminal Market followed by a goodbye cucumber cocktail at the Tavern on Camac piano bar. I had planned to see Chelsea Manning that evening until I discovered her appearance was going to be as an electronic DJ rather than to talk. I had also planned to get Ming Kong Chinese takeout until I saw the man selling jerk chicken and rice from a stall. So that’s what I am having.
The next day as the rain was torrential I made my way to early to the airport for my journey home.
Philadelphia is rough and ready. I really liked it.
