38 hours in philadelphia

So last week I went to Philadelphia for two days. Despite being a native Pennsylvanian, I'd never been to Philly, except for the block that the yearly Philly Zine Fest is held on. Pittsburgh tends not to like Philly, and vice versa. We think they're practically New Yorkers, they think we're a cowtown. After being in Philly, I think this latter pronouncement might be true. Philly is really, really big! /childlike amazement

First we (the friend I was staying with, a new acquaintance, and me) went to the Mutter Museum, the museum of medical oddities. I had never realized before how large a fetus is. I'm almost certainly never going to have kids anyway, but man, just thinking about how large a fetus skeleton is makes my ovaries crawl up into my lungs. There was also a display of old medical equipment, including an X-ray machine for use at shoe stores to measure feet to ensure a proper fit. Oh, those wacky 1950s!

Afterwards we passed the park pictured in this post, which had a bunch of game-related statues. Then we went to South Street, which reminded me a little bit of the South Side in Pittsburgh only BIGGER. We followed that up with a viewing of The Room (this is now the fourth time I've seen it, I think).

The next day, my friend and I walked around the Northern Liberties neighborhood and I became envious of the urban gardening there, some of it in very unique containers (see pic). I'm not very good at keeping alive things that don't claw and whine for their food and water, so I haven't done any gardening. Although I'm thinking about starting it up this next spring/summer, depending on if we live in our current house another year.

Damn, I really miss living in a city. Yeah, Baltimore is right next door to my town, but I can't just walk out the door and be in a city environment. The fact that I can't drive sort of accentuates this, since distances that "should" take twenty minutes instead take several hours of planning travel, waiting for the bus, waiting for the bus back, walking to wherever it is I'm going. Kind of a pain to do this unless you have a specific need to go into the city. And what with not having a job yet, I kind of don't.

So: Philly! I like it. Can't wait to go back (only two hours away on Megabus!).