Wherever Love Takes Me: A Four Part Account of My Road Trip to Philadelphia

Event Date: Saturday, April 9, 2011

From the Mega Bus to the China Bus

The day started out a bit dramatically. I jumped out of bed at 5:10am. I should have already been on my way to the city as my bus was scheduled to depart to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 6:30am. I live an hour and half away from the pick up site so even if you’re not great at math it’s obvious that time was not on my side. I called my friend who was supposed to be accompanying me on this trip. My only words were “I obviously didn’t wake up on time”. The plan was for me to wake up at four and meet at her house which was a shorter train ride to the city. She was still close enough to get there on time. I realized my only option was to trick a Brooklyn cab driver into taking me into Manhattan. I left my apartment in shambles and ran out of the door.

The cab driver was a contradiction to the say the least but quite entertaining. He played music from a religious station on his radio while he cursed at the top of his lungs about how much of a crazy driver he was (insert other expletives). Nevertheless, $55.00 later, he got me in the vicinity of my bus with six minutes left before it was scheduled to depart. I walked for three minutes in the wrong direction (as usual) and thanks to my marathon training last year I ran back in the right direction to the bus location.

It was a huge relief, when I saw the long line of people waiting. After standing there for a few seconds I asked if the bus was late. It turned out I was on the line for Boston. My bus was already loaded. At this point my friend was no where in sight but assured me she was a block away. I ran up to the bus as the driver was about the close the door. The bus attendant told me to get on. I tried to explain that my friend was a block away. She responded by yelling that they wait for no one. With that the bus driver closed the door sped off. When the dust cleared my friend was running across the street. We were informed that the next bus was an hour later, which would throw our entire day out of whack. Thanks to my iPhone, and the cab driver we accosted in Dunkin Donuts we were able to grab a bus in China town with the China Bus Company. An extra $20.00 later for some new tickets and we were finally on our way.

 

Love Park & Love Letters

Two hours later we were in Philly. On my previous visits I was either there for business or to see the tourist attractions such as the Liberty Bell. This trip started out as a random idea but after a little research done by my trusted companion my main motivation was to participate in the Love Letter Tour.

We hopped off of the China Bus, found a map on the street and decided to walk to find our way to the tour location. The meet up place was in Love Park, home of the famous Love Statue. My initial thoughts:  “It would be nice to come back here with the person I end up spending my life with just to take picture near the statue”. I sucked up the gushy feelings and took pictures of the statue by itself.


The tour is a series of 50 roof top murals by the Mural Arts Program and New York-based artist Stephen Powers (aka graffiti artist ESPO), spanning about 18 blocks in the West Philly area along

Market Street

. All of the murals make up an expression in the form of short love letters from a man to a woman, and also from the point of view of artists expressing love for their home town. As described on their website “Love Letter speaks to all those who have loved and for those who long for a way to express that love to the world around them”. I didn’t realize how much of an understatement that description would be in terms of my experience on this tour. As a love enthusiast to say the least, I was ultra excited.


We had a little time before the tour was set to begin. We found a cute little restaurant named Café Cret located across from the park. After a quick breakfast we met up with our tour guide in the visitor’s station in the park. Gladly it was only my friend and two couples who were on vacation from Paris.

We walked a few blocks and stopped at the local train station which they call the Septa. As a New Yorker I felt comfortable traveling this way but I was stopped in my tracks when the tour guide handed out tokens. I wish now that I bought one to keep as a souvenir. It was refreshing though probably not as convenient as my beloved NYC Metro Card.

 



 On the tour, our guide pointed out some of the murals while we were passing them on the train and we were able to get out on the platforms to get better views of most of them. As she told the story behind each mural, my mind always wandered to the artist(s) and their inspiration. I thought about the women who these messages were devoted to and wandered if the women were impressed, and moved. I certainly was. I mostly wondered if they were living happily ever after somewhere with the person who painted it. In my perfect world they are. All I could say out loud repeatedly was, “I would be happy if someone said I love you on a Post-It”.

The murals were located in West Philly which is kind of a tougher area, but I thought it was the perfect location. It was almost a metaphor for love itself as I see it. The area surrounding the murals was not pretty because it’s been through some rough times, but the heart of it was pure and beautiful.


Fashion Meets Art

Next stop was the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Though we had no set plans after the tour, visiting the museum was a no brainer. We knew we would end up there eventually before heading back to New York. The walkway to the museum was modeled after the Champs Elysees in Paris. It was quite the trek but worth the walk as the scenery along the way was both calming and exhilarating. The museum was at the end of the walkway. We were greeted by its famous “Rocky” steps as shown in the movie when the character played by Sylvester Stallone was training for his boxing match. People were taking turns running up the steps and posing with their hands in the air like the Rocky character did in the movie. I resisted the urge, but I did strike a few model poses.


Earlier while in the visitor’s center, I saw a flyer for one of the exhibits being featured there. It was for the Art into Fashion exhibit featuring pieces from designer Roberto Capucci. Capucci’s approach was avant-garde. The colors were vibrant, the shapes were architectural, and the fabric choices and use of certain materials such as florescent beading, wire, and straw added interesting layers and textures. The innovative things I’ve seen on the show Project Runway or on the runways over the years have all been inspired by or straight ripped from his collections in my opinion. He has been making these pieces since the 50’s by hand!

You could definitely see his inspirations and his influence throughout the decades drawn from the countries he visited, the county he originated from, and the social culture of the way people lived in each decade. His architectural style remained consistent. Fashion and art lovers could appreciate his work as it was thoughtful, thorough, complicated, unique, and out of the realm what many others are doing even to this day. The exhibit will be at the Philadelphia Museum of Art until June 5, 2011.

 

Love Stamp

After the museum we were headed back to the Reading Terminal Market to get a cheese steak before heading home but came across a restaurant called Asia on the Parkway. The drinks were half price that time of the day and I was feeling adventurous so we gave it a try. I ordered a dumpling appetizer and a salmon main dish with white wine. The portion size was satisfying and the food was flawless. Upon leaving the restaurant I had the idea to get a tattoo. I looked up the closest tattoo parlor using the navigation app on my phone and called to set up my walk in appointment.

 

We ended up at Eddies China Town Tattoo parlor. My tattoo of choice: The Love Statue I saw at Love Park. I wanted it on my spine.  My tattoo artist was David Steele. He was professional, nice, and as gentle as he could be given the area I chose to get the body art. After he was done, David traded a hug in lieu of a tip. It was the best souvenir I could have taken away from the City of Love.

 

I would recommend a quick trip to Philly to anyone. I saw so much in one day and it took a big effort on my part to not ask where I can find a listing of available apartments so that I could relocate. Philly has its rough edges just like any urban area but there is true beauty there. The best part of the trip was that other than the Love Letter tour we had no plans or real knowledge of our surroundings. We happily got lost and discovered some interesting things. I plan to do this as often as possible. Next Stop Washington D.C.