Field Trip to Philly

Last week I had my last visit to the hospital for three months.  It was just time for a scan to make sure my radioactive self was getting back to normal.  Mr. Lime, Isaac, and I decided to make a day of it since the appointment was early in the morning and we had the rest of the day.  I took Boom-boom along.

Our first stop was at Reading Terminal Market for a bite to eat.  This place makes me all sorts of happy.  Where else will you find Amish families selling baked goods, preserves, and fresh meats across an aisle from a sushi chef?  There's obviously an abundance of Pennsylvania German foods but there's a wide variety of other ethnic cuisines available as well.  Organic produce, quality breads, and be still my heart, CHEESES!  There were multiple cheese stands but Mr. Lime and I fell in with the artisanal crew who let us sample several cheeses.  After weeks of no dairy I splurged on some very expensive and very delicious cheese as a way to celebrate the end of my treatment.  Excuse me a moment while I savor the memory.....mmmmmm....


My other way to celebrate was to go to the Mütter Museum in order to see a multitude of medical oddities.  During the course of my treatment it was discovered that my thyroid was quite unusual....like one of four in the last century unusual...so I thought going to see other medical weirdness would be an appropriately warped way to celebrate the end of treatment.  It's not set up as some sort of side show exploiting folks with afflictions but was established as a manner of augmenting and furthering the education of physicians.  I also thought Isaac, whose favorite subject is anatomy and physiology, could be lured to a family outing if he got to see jars of gangrenous limbs and preserved body parts.  We also beheld such wonders as an enlarged human colon which looked like it couldn't possibly fit in a creature smaller than an elephant, an ovarian cyst the size of two soccer balls, a 7'6" skeleton, and a vast collection of skulls.  There was also an interesting exhibit drawing correlations between possible origins of folk tales as related in Grimm's Fairy Tales and human deformities.  I quite enjoyed that part. The museum does not permit photography.  Those of you with more sensitive constitutions may thank me now.  Those of you interested should definitely make it a stop if you ever get to Philadelphia.



After the museum we still had time to wander because we had paid an exorbitant parking fee and I intended to get some degree of its value out of it.  We walked around the city with Boom-boom, much to Isaac's chagrin.  He hates when I have my camera because I make too many stops.  Mr. Lime has learned to accept it.  In fact, we noticed this reflection of one building in the surface of another at the same time and he wanted to make sure I didn't miss it.

 We made it to City Hall after several blocks of wandering.  I had to visit Billy Penn.  I wanted to take a picture of one of us shaking a fist here so I could say we CAN fight city hall but no volunteers were forth-coming.















Across from City Hall is a sculpture park with this work "Government of the People" by Jacques Lipchitz.  It's a messy business, not unlike the sausage-making in the market, eh?

Nearby is Love Park with the famous logo.

Across the way the road leads to the Art Museum, one of my favorite places.

Eventually we headed home passing the Pennsylvania Railroad.  Monopoly anyone?

Finally, one of the other things I adore about Philadelphia is the proximity of old to new.  I'd never want to see the beautiful old architecture completely demolished and removed but time does march on and new things come along.

As my life moves on from here I want to remember to keep the best parts of my old self and ways as I move on in what I am considering a new start with new chances and as I try to make the most of that.