Philly

Things were not off to a great start when we arrived in Philly. When we entered our Airbnb, it had a foul stench lingering in the air. It was really poorly equipped for a longer stay; many of the essentials were missing, the bedding smelt like stale cigarettes and the pillows were dreadful. When I went to open my suitcase, the padlock wouldn’t open. I tried multiple times and for whatever reason it wouldn’t open even though I had the right padlock combination. We ended up getting a kitchen knife and cutting it open and so later during the week I had to go buy another suitcase, and we decided to also get pillows. Sometime ago I wrote here during our trip in 2018/19 about the endless onslaught of bad pillows. We’re seriously considering whether we should just travel with pillows from now on. Is that ridiculous?

But after that hiccup, things improved (although the apartment never stopped smelling despite the air fresheners we bought). On Saturday morning, we walked around the old town, immersing ourselves in a little American revolution history. For lunch, we went to the Reading Terminal Market, an indoor market operating since 1892. We had our first philly cheesesteak from a vendor with the longest queue and it was delicious. We also bought some fresh produce to make dinner at our Airbnb.

On Sunday, we hired a car and drove an hour out of the city to Longwood Gardens. I love visiting gardens and ever since learning about the existence of this one, I’ve wanted to visit. It is unlike any other, with over 1000 hectares of gardens, woodlands and meadows to explore.

In 1906, a lumber mill operator was about to cut down the trees on the land for timber. This threat moved Pierre du Pont, an American businessman of the du Pont company, to purchase the property in order to preserve the trees. He did not plan to create the gardens but his interest in horticulture led him to creating beautiful spaces to entertain friends, and later, he opened the gardens to the public in 1921. In 1937 he created the Longwood Foundation, which has enabled the gardens to grow and be maintained ever since. The gardens are currently undergoing a massive, multi-million dollar renovation called Longwood Reimagined which will be opened in 2024. I can’t wait to go back.

The gardens are simply spectacular. We spent 5 hours there and managed to see most of it, but there were paths left untrodden. There are a variety of outdoor gardens as well as fountains, forests, meadows, lakes and conservatories. The first conservatory, built in 1914, was an extension of the original farm house. The second, was built in 1921 and houses nearly 5,000 plants as well as a dazzling orchid house, putting on display 50 of their most beautiful orchids.

In 2010, a bathroom with a long arching greenwall covered in soft ferns was added to the conservatory, which was the largest greenwall in North America when it opened.

We wandered for hours through the numerous flower gardens, the topiary garden, promenades reminiscent of Parisienne parks and numerous walkways lined with thousands of plants and flowers, stopping to take photos or have a rest on one of the perfectly placed park benches.

One of the flower gardens was planted by colour so as you walked along the garden path a visual rainbow of flowers unfolded, changing from red to orange to yellow to pink to purple.

We watched the theatrical fountain displays in the morning at Open Air Fountain and in the afternoon at the Main Fountain. The artistic display of water jets to accompanying music at the 5 acre Main Fountain Garden is incredible.

But my favourite garden by far was the Italian Water Garden, a design inspired by du Pont’s trip to Florence. It is a perfectly symmetrical garden of plush checkered grass and bright blue tiled fountains, lined with trees and drenched in bright sunlight. There are two staircases winding down from an ornate bridge to the garden, one forming a stepped waterfall and the other guests can use to walk to the bottom step. It was a hot summer’s day and I wanted nothing more in that moment than to run onto the soft lawn and splash in that sparkling fountain, but I could only imagine such an experience from the restricted vantage point.

We left the fountain and started to make our way back to the visitor centre, winding through the forest of towering maple and tulip trees over 100 feet tall, and along the 86 acre meadow full of swaying herbaceous perennials in full bloom.

Hot, sweaty, exhausted and delighted, we arrived back at the beginning, feet sore, feeling for sure we’d missed something. It is the type of place you could keep coming back to, always finding something new you missed the time before. And of course, with the changing seasons, nature would reveal herself anew.

While we were in Philly, I purchased a weekly pass at an F45 near our accommodation. It always feels so good to have some semblance of a routine, even when travelling. Or perhaps especially when travelling. After eating out all week in New Orleans we were craving some home-made food. I find that is one of the most tormenting conflicts with travelling for a lengthy period of time - wanting to try all the local cuisines and eat and drink out at the best restaurants and bars, but doing so can pile on the kilos fast if left unchecked. And so we try to experience all the delights in moderation, keep exercising, and seek out a salad every so often.

While we mostly ate at home, we didn’t want to miss out on what the Philly food scene has to offer. And what is travelling without food? So we always ate breakfast at home, and then had one meal out per day, either lunch or dinner. We went back to the Reading Market for more classic Philly sandwiches for lunch. I really enjoyed the pork and broccoli rabe from Dinic’s.

For dinner one night we ate at Double Knot during happy hour (5-7pm) which was great value. For $100 we had 2 cocktails each as well as a number of share plates of dumplings, baos, fried rice and spring rolls. Afterwards we went for another cocktail at a.bar, which was exceptional. On another night we had dinner at historic French restaurant Parc, overlooking the beautiful Rittenhouse Square. Dylan had a steak au poivre which was so tender it melted in your mouth and the sauce was so good that in true French culinary etiquette, I mopped up the leftovers with a piece of bread.

After dinner we went to The Ranstead Room cocktail bar where we managed to get a seat at the bar so we could chat to the bartender, which is our favourite way to experience a cocktail bar. They made a delightful daiquiri with a coconut oil washed rum and pure cane juice, giving the drink a satisfying mouthfeel. On our last night in Philly we had dinner at Bud & Marilyn’s, serving updated American classics, with one of Dylan’s colleagues and his wife. They drove 2 hours into Philly to have dinner with us, which was a generous gesture.

While Dylan was working during the week I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It is a stunning building with beautiful vaulted hallways and lovely exhibit rooms. They have a good Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art collection, which is my favourite style of artwork, so I really enjoyed wandering through the quiet rooms displaying Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas and Cézanne.

In between sight seeing, I also caught up on writing blogs and uploading photos, and did a little life admin for things back home. I also booked some more flights and accommodation for later in our trip; researching and booking is always more time consuming than you expect it to be. But it felt good to have some down time and catch up on these things after being on the go for a few weeks in Chicago, Cincinnati and New Orleans.

I am finishing off this post while on the train to New York, watching the scenery go by, the Queen Anne’s lace in full bloom along the train track’s corridor. We’re staying one night in NYC before our flight out of JFK to Medellin on Sunday evening. It’s exciting to be so close to our stay in Colombia. It’ll be the first time in South America for both of us and we’re looking forward to this exciting part of our travel experience.

On 1 September President Biden was in Philadelphia, ahead of the upcoming mid-term election, giving a speech on the continued battle for the soul of the nation. Speaking from the birthplace of American democracy, on the steps of Independence Hall, he called on his citizens to resist threats to democracy.

We’ve really enjoyed the last month we’ve spent travelling around the US - we’ve discovered new places and rediscovered old ones. It’s a great place to visit, but the challenges this country face are so readily apparent. We saw them in the rampant homelessness in every city, increasing disparity in wealth, the campaigning billboards of anti-abortion messages, the shootings that happended every other week while we were there, and the deeply held concerns we heard from all our friends. I can’t help but feel as though the country is sitting on a precipice.