Walking the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia

One of the nice things about out-of-town weddings is that they are a great excuse to see a city. Sure, there is a schedule to keep, but more often than not there is sufficient down-time that seeing at least a few of the highlights of the city is relatively easy. This past weekend we were in Philadelphia for my cousin’s wedding and we had plenty of free time on Saturday. Time to wander from the heart of downtown, City Hall, the length of Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Museum of Art, making a few stops along the way.

City Hall barely fits in to the rest of town. It barely fits into the classic American architectural style, really. Probably not too much of a surprise given its history, but it does seem a bit strange to me. Nonetheless, there it is, right in the middle of town, with all its columns, gargoyles, trim and giant tower rising up from the middle.

It was also the starting point for our adventure on Saturday morning. From there we headed up though Love Park and along the boulevard to the Museum of Art. Perhaps most famous for its role in the original Rocky movie, it also happens to be quite a beautiful building. The detail work, particularly around the roof line, is most impressive. We didn’t go inside, nor did we run the steps, but we did watch many, many, many others make the run.

It turns out that there was a regatta in town so there were a ton of rowing teams there. They arrived by the bus load, groups of ten to twenty spilling out onto the plaza at the bottom of the steps before making the run up to the top. The most zealous of the groups could be heard trying to encourage their friends to make the run again, though a single trips was generally enough for most folks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f2uzVBYrmU

After the trip up to the museum we headed down to the waterfront, walking along the Schuylkill down to Market Street and across to 30th Street Station. It was National Train Day and I wanted to see just how big the celebration was. Huge. Overwhelming, really. Lots more about that part of the day here.