Friday, July 06, 2007

Philadelphia Museum of Art

I'm finally getting around to posting the rest of my week with Katie and we were to Wednesday. That was the famous Philadelphia Museum of Art as shown on the left, here. You may recognize the Rocky steps. All 72 of them. And yes, I walked up them all. Katie pretty much skipped, but she wouldn't do the "Rocky Pose" at the top of the steps for a photo, even though all the other tourists were doing it. I should have just taken a picture of them since she wouldn't play along.

Because they're in the midst of cleaning the outside of the museum the picture I took doesn't do it justice. It's quite a beautiful building. The less famous entrance is even prettier. It overlooks the Fairmount Park Water Works on the banks of the Schuylkill River. It's one of the first things you see as you drive in to Philadelphia from the Northwest and a view I don't think I'll ever tire of.

I made my usual pre-art museum speech about the probability of nude paintings and sculptures and the unacceptability of gawking, etc. She just rolled her eyes and said, I know, Mom, with the same tone pre-teens reserve for Duh. We ate lunch in their cafe (way overpriced) and managed to see just about all the exhibits.

I had to laugh because I'm not a big fan of contemporary art, however, she helped me to see it a little bit differently. Apparently her art education at the public school is much better than mine ever was.

We both loved the Armory exhibit. What damsel wouldn't? I was particularly fond of the Monet hall and she seemed to like the Van Gogh as that was fresh in her mind from school.

Finally, exhausted, we left. This picture is what you see from the Rocky steps as you look into Philadelphia. It was a horribly hot and humid day so the picture isn't as crisp as I'd like. It's usually quite pretty, though.

The statue is General Washington and he overlooks the Ben Franklin Parkway which was based on the Champs Elysees in Paris. This portion of the parkway is considered International Avenue because there are flags from every country lining it. The fountain you see at the end of the parkway is Swann Fountain and the beautiful building beyond that is Philadelphia City Hall with a statue of William Penn on the top.

When we got down to street level I had to take a picture of this monstrosity. It had been erected and dedicated the previous weekend. Even the news anchors who reported on it couldn't keep from making veiled snide comments about the orange steel beams. While I love looking at pretty things and think of myself as an appreciater of fine art, I just don't get this. But whatever.

One of the interesting things about Philadelphia is their art program. There are numerous statues and fountains peppered throughout the entire city. Apparently when a new company is given a business license they are required to give a certain amount of money to Philadelphia's art program.

Along the same lines, another thing Philadelphia is famous for is their murals program in an effort to combat graffiti. They've done a marvelous job of it, too. There are beautiful murals everywhere. Katie took a picture of this one as we drove around the city after the museum.


Obviously it does not extend to U-Haul trucks.

One of the areas we drove through is Antique Row. What an eclectic area this is. There are 250 year old, million dollar brownstones mixed in with flower shops, antique stores, mom and pop groceries and, of course, art shops. This is a picture of a mosaic museum. They recycled bicycle spokes, bottles, broken glass, broken china and who knows what else. Kinda cool, though, huh?

After leaving Philly we stopped in Ardmore for a late lunch/early dinner at Ruby's Diner. She ordered a cherry coke and hers came with four cherries! So I ordered a cherry coke and mine only came with two. What's up with that?

After eating we window shopped a little and then came home. A load of laundry and a quick packing job later we were ready for our New York adventure. More on that later.

***

While Katie and I were driving/running/walking around getting stuffed with culture and yummy food, Todd and Taylor were having life changing spiritual experiences at the Youth Conference they went to. One of the boys who also attended seemed to click with Taylor. He was a couple years older and his life has been a whole lot harder, but he would seek Taylor out and talk to him about God. We found out Wednesday evening that this boy wanted to be baptized the next day and he wanted Taylor to do it.

When a woman with crazy hormones finds out her 15-year-old son has been this kind of an influence on a 17-year-old boy, there are gonna be tears. Truth be told, I'm pretty sure I would have cried regardless of my hormone status. It was a very proud mama I was and I can't even begin to imagine the range of emotions Todd went through. He watched all this happen right in front of his eyes.

This would be one of the moments where I praise God for the trials He's put this family through in the last two years. It grew Taylor in unimaginable ways and this was a glimpse of the resulting fruit.

RECOVERY UPDATE

I'm still doing very well. I'm taking very little in the way of pain medication just because I don't need it. My doctor called a little while ago to tell me the path report came back clear, which hadn't even been a concern of mine. But it's nice to hear it anyway.

It's now time for my afternoon walk around the first floor. Kitchen, dining room, living room, entry way, kitchen, dining room, etc. I'm amazed walking around in this circle doesn't make me dizzy.

Labels: family, fun, God, medical, touristy

Mused by Jenster :: 3:11 PM :: 17 People musing:

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