City No. 3: Philadelphia, PA, or, “City of Brah-brah Love and the Land of One Thousand Million Cats”

Our Honeymoon, or, How We Got to the Midwest One Interview at a Time:  The Northeast Cities According to Me, the One Who Wanders the Cities While Peter Completes the Interviews

Disclaimer: This should by no means be used as a real resource to the northwestern cities.  While I am an observant person, I have no background in city development, nor do I have expertise on the cultural or historical background on these cities.  For the most part, I am reviewing these cities based on my personal preferences, as we will be moving to one of these cities in the spring.  And, if you are hoping for a lot of artwork (as this is my art blog), sorry to say, but you will be sadly disappointed if you continue to read this blog in the upcoming two months.  Apart from my photographs of the cities, I doubt I’ll get to very many art and craft projects.   

 

I was amazed with many of Philly's attributes right off the bat—enough so—that I started to keep notes on all that I enjoyed.  But first, I will explain the title of this blog.  Surely the brotherly love part is typically common knowledge (“City of Brotherly Love” comes from the literal Greek translation “brotherly love”), but the cat thing?  While I hope this is a gross exaggeration, I have a feeling that it may not be.  There are cats everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  Mostly skinny cats, hiding under parked cars, slinking around corners and rustling in the brush.  They meow at night.  And most of them are unapproachable—incredibly feral.  But after hearing about how our couch-surfer’s neighbor deals with the issue (and I suspect she’s not the only one doing it this way), it is not surprising that the situation is not improving.  She adopts some of them (13 at the moment?), and then the rest that she can’t afford to adopt, are fed outside her back door.  And she has comfy crate and pillow that the mamma cats can use to birth and raise kittens in.  But here’s the kicker:  she refuses to get them spayed and neutered, and according to the neighbors, seems to like it when the mamma cats have kittens in her back hard (which grow up to be strays that she feeds but can’t afford to take care of, and who also breed more kittens in her back yard).  The kittens we saw in her backyard had eye infections that had progressed so much that the eye was glued shut with puss.  I understand her wanting to help, but man—those poor kittens…

Some graffiti on the streets.  Pretty sure that little thing is an opossum.  Maybe?

Anyway, so there are many, many cats.  But also there is a subway system, the Mutter Museum (a medical history museum that housed many crazy things including a 70 lb ovarian tumor as well as many books bound with leather made from human skin—ugh!), China Town, as well as that famous bell with the crack in it (ah yes—the Liberty Bell!), an indoor market, and a brewery that uses Thomas Jefferson’s original beer recipe!  Basically, Philly has much to offer in the realm of interesting things as well as in the “uninteresting things” --such as really expensive name-brand stores, trendy gourmet restaurants that cost an arm and a leg, as well as the people that enjoy these things.  Needless to say, it was obvious to see that we were getting closer to NY, NY.  And just as much as I wouldn’t live in downtown NY, I wouldn’t live in downtown Philly. 

The neighborhood that our couch-surfer hosts lived in, however, told an entirely different story.  Once poor (and it still has poor areas), the areas of “East Kensington” and “Fishtown” had their own small-town/urban renewal feel.  Small businesses have moved into disheveled, old buildings and created adorable “shabby chic” atmospheres, and homeowners have moved into abandoned homes and created new and lived-in spaces.  One man has even put up several pre-fab houses that give the area a very strong feeling of transition and progression.  If we moved into Philly, this would be the place to be, as it still has relatively good deals on homes, there’s plenty of room for the community to grow, and it’s on the L Line!  For two dollars (or if you have a token that only costs $1.55), you can get downtown and not have to worry about parking—and feel free as a bird!  Lovely! 

Philly, you’re a-ok in my book!  A little bigger of a city and further along in development than what we are probably looking for, but still a really cool place. 

View from way up on the 27th floor of a building downtown. 

Liberty Bell!  Of course, you can only see the side that doesn't have the crack from outside.
To see the crack, you've gotta pay a few dollerz to actually go inside.  No thanks!

More graffiti. 

This delightful elephant slide is exactly like the one that sat in my front yard as a child.  Brought me back to those
days of zero responsibility.  This slide gave Philly a few extra points in my book. 

Thomas Jefferson's delicious brew!  His original recipe!  He was a great brewmaster.
It was a nice brown ale with a nice caramel aftertaste.  Yum.