PHILADELPHIA

Rocky statue viewed from the top of a tour bus

Although the wedding was in Swarthmore, Jacob and Nellie and I stayed in the El Meridien Hotel in the middle of Philadelphia, right by City Hall, to avail ourselves of touristing opportunities.  On Sunday, after the brunch on Rittenhouse Square, we took the Big Bus sightseeing tour, which included (I quote from their brochure) 24 hour ticket, expert local guides, hop-on hop-off, 21 stops.  Our expert guide told us of the travels of the Rocky statue, which had been dedicated to the city by the film company that immortalized Rocky Balboa's training sprints on the formidable steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum.  It seems that the statue was first placed at the top of the steps where Rocky's expansive gesture was made in the film.  The museum's board, however, got sniffy over the question of whether the stature was in fact art.  The statue was moved to some other location, but it turned out that it was the biggest tourist attraction in this venerable city and the tourists followed it.  The art museum board then had second thoughts and brought it back, although not to the top of the steps.  The Rocky statue now holds court off to one side on ground level--thus is a truce between popular culture and high culture maintained.

The Philadelphia Art Museum, among the largest in the country with an excellent and extensive collection, was one of our hop-off the bus places.  We were there for about two hours, which is a bit over the time I can productively view art.  After that I just shamble along like a stunned ox without really registering much.  Fortunately I got to the American collection before that happened and was struck by how similar the work of Homer and Eakins are to Repin and the Russian Itinerants although they were not contemporaries.

Jacob hopped off the bus again at the Four Seasons, but Nellie and I continued on along the Delaware River front and then to the core of the historical district at Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.  We just had time to see the Liberty Bell before catching the last bus of the day back to our starting point at Love Park, home to the Love Statue, which I hadn't known was a statue.  Jacob and Nellie took the second half of the tour on Monday before we went to the airport to head back to the Delta.

Me with the Liberty Bell, which was smaller than I had imagined and cracked on the other side.