Yo Adrian

 

Early start today local time waking around 5am but that is the joy of jet lag and having a really good sleep for what feels like the first time in weeks. Was able to ease into the day as we waited for light to filter into the room, check in on home and spend some time blogging.

Not entirely sure what the outside temperature would be at 8am as we are at a bit of a turning point here in the Fall. Felt it was just about T shirt weather knowing we'd be running at some point, and that might begin earlier if we needed to warm up. As it turned out it was on the right side of acceptable.

It was about a mile walk to get near to Arts Museum which was our first goal today as that has quite an iconic place in popular movie culture.  Our route to getting there took us through some of the CBD as the locals were  kicking into action for the working day and going about their morning commute.

We hit garmin buttons as we found a nice straight avenue towards the Museum and quickly found the river (well one of us did, the other seemed to want to go back on themselves) and it was 2 glorious bright miles out and back on a lovely flat path, joggers everywhere, and a feelgood factor as the sky so blue, the river so mellow, and morning calm all around. A final swerve inland to those famous steps from the first Rocky movie, I almost got run over crossing the road to get there, and perhaps did not bound up quite at Stallone speed but other than that it could have been the same ..

As the grande finale to a 4 mile tun, and a good way to stretch the legs after the flight over waited for chrissi to join and videoed her making her run up the steps. Was a good view of the city from the top and the famous stature of Rocky up there (not the original, that is now just around the corner at the bottom of the steps) a fine photo shoot. Other runners were also zipping up and down, it is a tried and tested route although I somehow did not manage to connect to the strava segment, but Chrissi did. I even did it twice for that purpose and to get my own video!

 We then a walk over to the other statue and a sports centre nearby not called Rocky but Lloyd Hall which I thought was more appropriate.  Right next to some random waterworks that appear to be a tourist attraction in their own right. I had run past both earlier but felt too good a photo opp not to return to.

Back through town for breakfast,  60s love sculpture and welsh flags to keep the spirits high and post run positive.  As we had been up by now for hours  I could say I was on UK time and it was the afternoon and I had to have a reason to have a Philly Cheese Steak .  The Reading Terminal Market was a hubub of all sorts of eateries and stalls, I think this place is the stomach and maybe heart of Philadelphia and was great to spend time looking around before devouring one of those monster shredded steaks and cheese in a baguette. Pushed the boat out with a second bloody mary of the trip, it felt the right thing to do.

Welsh settlers in Pennsylvania a notable part of that melting pot and I think most of its legacy may be road signs (now there's a surprise) out in the burbs west of the city, particularly in a place called Narbeth.  A plaque enscribed on the town hall do give a nod to our part of the world and was a nice moment to take that in and see a few welsh words on the side of their civic building.

A quick change back at the hotel as needed an extra layer as I'm officially calling today the changing of the seasons out on the East Coast. The sun offers summer when it catches you directly, but the sitting temperature has a winter bite.  I am loving our walks through the suburban streets, homely halloween everywhere.

It was then for a bit more history and a visit to the famous the liberty bell, commissioned back in the 18th century and a symbol during many periods of history here to celebrate and indeed remind of the freedoms established by the founding fathers. Sadly the current fathers are all arguing on capitol hill and there is a federal government shut down of museums such as this with staff  furloughed. Perhaps the first snippets of the new unrest here and that discussion of rights and freedoms, with them of course being seen as paramount, albeit some rights and freedoms appear to trump others. 

We then strolled down to Penns landing , an interesting  waterside fusion of the industrial, military, tourist all in one, views across Delaware river, and Benjamin Franklin bridge.. Most of that also shut for winter but there were also some memorials too soldiers lost in Korea and Vietnam, big numbers, a reminder perhaps why the US getting involved in overseas wars not always a popular policy, especially with so much going on at home!

We hit the halloween avenues home, I think some real competitive spirit amongst the home dwellers.  A coffee stop in one of the theatre cafes adjacent to our hotel, very much an arts and cultural hub too. And quick use of pool to tick off the amenity with no discernible gain.

Our final activity of the day was going out to dinner to a restaurant Chrissi had spotted called Monster Vegan.  A combination of the said food and 60s/70s horror movie kitsch.  Luckily I had loaded up on meat in the market earlier so could enjoy my mushroom spaghetti whilst Chrissi had her vegan philly cheese steak (fake)  Couple of warming cocktails with a horror feel, cider and wine (sangria) being the main components for me, and whilst they did not serve a warm drink those ingredients were warm enough on this lovely Autumnal evening.