Last weekend we were in Philadelphia, me for the CWPA conference, Jake for a weekend away to sketch and write. I did have Elton John stuck in my head, as well as lots of ideas about writing and rhetoric and education. It was, my friend Jen and I decided, an immensely intellectual weekend.
But it wasn't all conversations about pedagogy. Jake and I squeezed in some time to bash about the city, and it was great! We saw lots of cool architecture, and some historic sites.
Having been to Philly before for a printmaking conference, Jake had scoped out some stuff for us to do. He took me to a swanky little martini bar with a live jazz band. We sipped cold drinks while this gal in a blue dress belted "The Best Is Yet To Come". The cutest part was how proud my husband was to show me around; he was a very good tour guide.
We walked through city center and checked out some parks and the profusion of modern sculpture, and then hit up Chinatown to see the arch. We wandered into a tiny Vietnamese shop and purchased spicy barbeque meat kabobs for a dollar while the proprietor chatted us up, explaining how he developed his spicy sauce recipe while holding an entire cooked fish. We ended up at a Belgian pub for mussels, belgian fries and the most complicated beers ever.
Before leaving on Saturday, we hit up the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which was so cool. It is seriously so huge, there is so much art to see. Jake was excited to see the Marcel Duchamp pieces, and it was interesting to hear him describe them to me...like having my own personal curator guiding me through the exhibit!
All in all, it was a great trip. Aside from the massive amounts of driving there and back again...This weekend promises more of the same, as I trek out to Chicago to help Jen move. After that, I may just swear off road trips for life...or, until the next cool opportunity comes along.
