Where: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
When: January 5, 2014
With: Emma, Dave, and Brits
Despite the fact that my cousin lives in Philly, and I've taken the quick two hour journey to visit her loads of times, our weekends tend to focus on more the eating and drinking side of the city than on the cultural side. Case in point, I can usually recognize the location of her apartment in Old City by its proximity to the old "Real World" house rather than its proximity to the Betsy Ross house.
This explains why it has taken me so long to reach the Philadelphia Museum of Art. On a field trip to see the sights of Philly back in middle school, a rather annoying substitute teacher made us stop in front of the museum so she could get out and run up the steps, dancing like Rocky at the top (we asked the bus driver to please just drive away and leave her). However, that was the closest I'd ever come to actually entering the building.
Emma had flown over to spend the week in the US and after a few days in New York, was planning to visit some friends in Philly. I figured this was the perfect opportunity to (a) see my cousin since returning from London, and (b) use Emma's visit as an excuse to finally tick off the museum. While my cousin passed on the visit, Emma's champion attitude in making sure I do all things Book-related endured, and I finally got to go. Appropriately, we celebrated Rocky-style. Yay!
Unfortunately, a massive snowstorm precluded us from running up the Rocky steps at full speed. So we had to settle for a gentle climb.
As if Emma had planned everything, we learned that it was free to enter the museum on the first Sunday of every month. What better timing? It was great to be able to enter and amble, but not feel bound to "get out money's worth" and overstay our attention span.
One of the most impressive things about this museum is the building itself. I loved the entrance, with its grand staircase and its high arching ceilings. It felt like being in a Greek temple.
We made sure the Brits saw the suit of armor section, just so they could feel at home.
An interesting quirk of the musuem: if you don't check your coat, your jacket MUST be tied around your waist. MUST. We were yelled at several times, and forced to don this lovely ensemble.
When: January 5, 2014
With: Emma, Dave, and Brits
Despite the fact that my cousin lives in Philly, and I've taken the quick two hour journey to visit her loads of times, our weekends tend to focus on more the eating and drinking side of the city than on the cultural side. Case in point, I can usually recognize the location of her apartment in Old City by its proximity to the old "Real World" house rather than its proximity to the Betsy Ross house.
This explains why it has taken me so long to reach the Philadelphia Museum of Art. On a field trip to see the sights of Philly back in middle school, a rather annoying substitute teacher made us stop in front of the museum so she could get out and run up the steps, dancing like Rocky at the top (we asked the bus driver to please just drive away and leave her). However, that was the closest I'd ever come to actually entering the building.
Emma had flown over to spend the week in the US and after a few days in New York, was planning to visit some friends in Philly. I figured this was the perfect opportunity to (a) see my cousin since returning from London, and (b) use Emma's visit as an excuse to finally tick off the museum. While my cousin passed on the visit, Emma's champion attitude in making sure I do all things Book-related endured, and I finally got to go. Appropriately, we celebrated Rocky-style. Yay!
Unfortunately, a massive snowstorm precluded us from running up the Rocky steps at full speed. So we had to settle for a gentle climb.
One of the most impressive things about this museum is the building itself. I loved the entrance, with its grand staircase and its high arching ceilings. It felt like being in a Greek temple.
We made sure the Brits saw the suit of armor section, just so they could feel at home.
An interesting quirk of the musuem: if you don't check your coat, your jacket MUST be tied around your waist. MUST. We were yelled at several times, and forced to don this lovely ensemble.
The rest of the museum was filled with the classics you'd expect: Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, etc.
The range of artwork was pretty diverse, from super modern to tapestries to sculptures. It even had a "traditional English sitting room". This is totally what my apartment in London looked like, totally.
We wandered about for a couple hours, getting to see a good variety of art. It was a lovely way to spend a cloudy, Sunday afternoon. I'm glad I finally got to see this museum, and, more importantly, I finally got to run up the steps!
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