Phildelphia is Not Just Cheese Steaks

Although those are available on every corner. So I flew to Philly from Boston, and then took a shuttle to the Hilton Hotel. It is in downtown Philadelphia. Once I checked in, I went over to the Convention Center, and picked up my bag and my program for the conference. After depositing that in my room, I went to Terminal Market Station. That is a huge "swap meet" of indoor food vendors. Boy oh Boy. They had every kind of food you can imagine there, from Middle Eastern delicacies, to Philly Cheesesteaks, to genuine Amish cheese and pot roast sandwiches. There was this cute young dude there who actually said to me "Hey, how you doin'?", just like in the movies. When I said I was fine and asked him how he was, he said "Livin' the Dream, honey." He was making cheesesteaks. I decided on Tootsie's Salad and Hot Bar. Yum.

One of my favorite stalls was The Flying Monkey - brownies, cakes, cookies, and Whoopie Pies. Here is a picture. Tomorrow night, I have a lecture dinner, so I won't be back here tomorrow, but I will be back sometime.

Then I walked around and looked at the historic buildings for a while. Philly seemed kinda dirty and there were lots of poor, sketchy people out and about. Here is a picture of two of the buildings.

Tonight, I'm just gonna take it easy and plan my lectures for tomorrow out, so I know if I will have any free time. I want to take a city tour on a bus - I think that will be the safest bet for an old lady all by herself. More tomorrow.

We had a free morning on Wednesday, the first day of the conference. So I walked over to the historical section of town, and did a little sightseeing. First, I went to the Liberty Bell. It's smaller than I thought it would be, but the crack is there.

Then I went on a tour of Independence Hall. Here is a picture from the outside, and then one of the main room, where the Declaration of Independence was drafted.

Then I went to Bourse Hall, which was the center of trade and finance in the late 1700s. Now it's a shopping venue and a food court. It's beautifully maintained, as was Independence Hall. I got pizza at Sbarro's.

This is George Washington's original chair, called the rising sun chair. He was a big, tall dude.

Then I went and saw Congress Hall. I love the colors it was painted inside. There was one room that was forest green and deep crimson, and one that was robin's egg blue. All of the tours and exhibits are free, which is a nice treat.

With my badge for the conference, there was no way to wear a long necklace. So I doubled up my Joan Rivers pearl lariat thingy, and I loved the result.

On Thursday, I began classes at 8 AM. I stayed in classes until 3:30 PM. We got sandwiches for lunch, but they were on brioche rolls, and it was A LOT of bread. Hopefully, tomorrow's lunch will be better. During lunch, I went over to Love Park and saw the famous LOVE sign. Here it is :

The plaza itself is requesting donations for renovation, and it is badly needed. Every time I stepped on a block, it wiggled. Plus, there were tons of bums and homeless people hanging around. I commented to a friend that it seems as though there are as many police out as there are citizens. Love Park is very near City Hall, so I took a photo of that building from a different angle.

After class was over, I changed into my workout clothes and walked the mile or so to Penn Landing. That was a bust. It's just a dirty, grimy, desolate pier. Across the Delaware River is Camden, New Jersey. I hear that Camden is an awful town. Here's a picture of a cargo ship going by Penn Landing.
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I also took a picture of a bronze statue called Arrival of the Irish, which was in a park near Penn Landing. The park was a mess, with graffiti and overgrown weeds everywhere, so I took my picture and scramolaed out of there. I walked back up Market Street, all the way to The Shops at Liberty One, which is about 22 blocks. I saw this bar on the way.

Then I walked back to the Hilton, which is at 10th and Market, more or less. I walked for 2 hours and 15 minutes, so at least I got some exercise. I must say that Philly is not my cup of tea. Too urban for this old lady who has lived her whole life in SoCal. I feel as though everyone can tell just by looking at me, that I have just washed up on the beach. I am not at all urban or urbane. I look like an ancient little surfer compared to everyone else. Some people have even commented that it is obvious that I come from California. I stopped at the Terminal Market again, and got in the door 5 minutes before closing. A man reluctantly gave me an order of tabouleh. It turned out to be exceptionally tasty.

So tomorrow, I once again have lectures until 3:30, then I am going to Chinatown to look around. It's kinda small, so I am not expecting much, but am hoping for a gift shop. Then I want to get a sweater that I saw at Macy's my first day here, now that I have a 20% off coupon. Then I plan on working out in the gym. So we will see how these plans go.

I loved my lectures today. The first one was on emerging diseases, which thankfully did not include Ebola. The most interesting were on Meningococcal B meningitis outbreaks at Princeton and UCSB, and Dengue fever. Then I took an hour and a half workshop on "Progress Toward A Cure For HIV". It was absolutely fascinating. One of my licenses is in Clinical Laboratory Science, so I love the theoretical scientific side of things. Some of the ideas were novel and intuitive, but the problem is, they are either too toxic to use on humans, or too expensive. The only person who has ever been totally cured of HIV did so because he got leukemia, went through 2 courses of chemo, and then had a bone marrow transplant. When his marrow regenerated with the donor's, the HIV disappeared. However, most people would not survive this, so it's not an option. Then I had lunch, which was much better today as well. I had a southwestern chicken sandwich. After lunch, there was a controversial lecture on MRSA, and one doctor ended up challenging the researcher, and the doctor was correct. This topic has long been a controversy.

Anyway, after lectures were over, I went to Macy's and got my sweater. I will wear it on the plane home. Then I walked around Chinatown and got 2 bracelets and some rice crackers to snack on. Here's a picture of the Friendship Gate, which leads into Chinatown.
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Here's a picture of a typical street. I only carried some cash in my pocket, because I have seen lots of movies where Chinatown is rough and dicey. It was fine.
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Here's a picture of a rather run down pagoda that was there. Actually, all of Chinatown was rather run down, but that is the case in a lot of big cities. Now I am gonna go work out if there is a machine available. They only have 4 - one bike, two treadmills, and one elliptical. I'll tell you more tomorrow.