Philly

I am just returned from a trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My sons and I took in a ball game at Citizens Bank Park, the home field of the Philadelphia Phillies. It was a dull game until the 10th inning, when the home team won on a two out bases loaded two run single. The crowd went home happy. 

Citizens Bank is the most recent stadium we've visited. It's not the best but it isn't bad. It is a better place to watch baseball than my hometown Detroit Tigers' Comerica Park, where most seats are simply too far from the field. We sat in the third deck of Citizens yet every bit of a hundred feet nearer the action than at a comparable spot in Comerica. The Philly skyline was clearly visible. Honestly, it's more impressive than Detroit's. Oh, and we had ice cream in small collectible baseball helmet bowls. Ice cream tastes better in baseball helmet bowls. It's just science.

We spent Sunday more or less walking Philadelphia. I have pictures of the Liberty Bell and the chamber of the Continental Congress in Independence Hall. It wasn't the cathartic experience which I as a history wonk expected. Independence was declared in that room, and the Constitution formed. Our Founding Fathers debated great things there and history literally made. I'm glad to have seen it. I simply wasn't as moved as I had always imagined I would be.

We posed by the Rocky statue on the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum and spent a sublime half hour or so in the quiet of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, a massive and beautiful Church. The three of us ate a too expensive but nonetheless very good pepperoni pizza at a somewhat high end pizza joint (high end pizza joint?) and had desserts of what the locals called Water Ice. It's basically a thick frozen Coke and available in several flavors. You need a spoon to eat it and man oh man, the cherry one I had was outstanding. My sons expressed the same sentiments for the banana and peach flavors they each respectively chose.

So, Philadelphia. Would I visit again? Indeed I would. For cherry water ice, to be sure.