New York, Philadelphia, and Washington
Gloria at Independence Hall Last month I went to Philadelphia to visit my friend Gloria (picture at left). Gloria has been working on a Masters in Public Health and Masters of Medical Science (Physician Assistant) at Arcadia University in Philadelphia. She’s been there for three years now and leaving soon, so I decided it was time to visit her. Of course, she’s never come to visit me in all my years at Waterloo, but I guess I’m just a better friend than she is.
Here’s a travelogue for my voyages, and pictures are available in my picture gallery.
Taxicabs in Manhattan On Saturday, we went to New York City. I hadn’t been to New York City in probably 15 years, so it was great to visit. We wandered around lower Manhattan, visiting the former site of the World Trade Center and Wall Street. Moving north, we toured the Guggenheim Museum on the Upper East side. It was actually a bit disappointing. The exterior of the museum was under reconstruction, and the main exhibit in the museum was a seemingly never-ending series of sculptures by David Smith, all of which were approximately the same.
Times Square at night After the Guggenheim, we met my friend Ryan for coffee. Ryan and I went to high school and university together, and now have met up in 4 foreign cities (San Francisco, London, Oxford, and New York). After coffee and dinner, Gloria and I managed to score tickets to a preview performance of Disney’s Tarzan on Broadway. The music of Tarzan has always seemed a bit weak to me, but the staging of the show was spectacular, with some really great wire work.
Exterior, Carpentar's Hall After a long day in New York, we spent a more relaxing Sunday in Philadelphia. Gloria showed me around the town that’s been her home for 3 years and graciously took me to all the tourist sites, even though she’s probably been a dozen times or more. We went to the Liberty Bell (which has been moved indoors because of “terrorism”), Independence Hall. For lunch we had a Philly cheese steak at Geno’s complete with actual Freedom Fries.
Korean War Memorial Gloria had to work on Monday, so I took the train to Washington, DC. Total time in DC: 5.25 hours. Total distance walked: 15.6km. I walked from the US Capitol down past all the museums, up to the White House, the Washington Monument, World War II, Vietnam, and Korean War Memorials, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Jefferson Memorials, took a tour of the US Capitol, 
Model of the USS Enterprise and visited the National Air and Space Museum. I particularly enjoyed the Air and Space museum, where I saw nuclear missiles, a replica of Sputnik, got to go inside of a SkyLab, and see the original model of the USS Enterprise. After so much walking, I was glad to relax on the train ride back to Philadelphia for the flight home.
Tomorrow I’m off to Brussels and London for some conferences, so I’ll try to post some pictures from the road.
