The City of Brotherly Love

So the last day of the conference was crammed with lectures. The first one in the morning was "Guess the Disease". Three doctors got up there and showed us Xrays, gave us lab results, and then we were supposed to figure it out. The only one I knew was Naegleria, the parasite that you get from shoving a Neti pot up your nose. But I did learn a few things. The other two sessions were all about the new regulations coming out for 2015, so they were boring, even if they are essential to my job.

When I was returning from lunch, where I sat with a really nice pharmacist from Philly, we had an Ebola update. When I looked through the plate glass windows, there was a herd of protestors, filled with hate about the way Lyme Disease is treated. Here are two pictures of them. They motioned for me to come outside and talk to them, so I did. I told them that it's hard to get clinical guidelines changed, but if they want to, they need to gather clinical evidence and then present it to IDSA (Infec Dis Soc of America). Chanting and walking around with bloody rubber ticks, and scarfing down pizza doesn't make a scientific case. They were surprisingly receptive to my advice.

Then at night, we had a dinner program given by a couple of the pharmaceutical companies. It was pretty interesting, and dinner was pretty tasty. I sat with a man from Vienna, a lady from Newport Beach (right next door to HB) and a man from Panama.

Today, I went on the Hop On Hop Off bus for a guided tour. Guess what - I was mistaken, there are some nice parts of Philly, namely Society Hill, South Street, and up by the Art Museum. First, we saw the Church of St Augustine.

Then I got a closer look at City Hall. It was started in 1876 and finished in 1901. IT's French Revival style. Looks pretty gothic to me.But it is a spectacular building. Next door is Macy's. It used to be Wanamaker's. Mr Wanamaker developed things like sales receipts, store accounts, the bargain basement, and the philosophy that the customer is always right.

Then we went up to the museum section of town, which is elegant and lovely. Here's the Art Museum from the front.

Here's the Rodin museum. It's hard to see, but one of the 5 copies of "The Thinker" is out front.

This is a famous house, whose name escapes me, but it was used in the making of The Sixth Sense. It's on St Alban's street. The Church pictured above was also used in the movie. There is a tour you can take that goes to all the famous movie sites in Philly. I would have done that one too, if I had time.

Then I toured the Eastern State Penitentiary. That was all kinds of awesome. You go in, and they give you an audio device, and you can just wander around to your heart's content. Here is one of the huge gargoyles guarding the front gate.

I will just quickly tell you what each of these pictures is of. This is Cell Block 1. All of the other 7 cell blocks are just like this one. You go down them, and each has presentations and exhibits, and you can actually go into some of the cells.

This is the large outdoor exercise yard. The gun turret on the right is new, and below you can see the original, built around 1800.

This is Al Capone's cell. Not too shabby, eh? The prison was closed in 1970. I also saw the first prison Synagogue, the cell of Pep ( a black lab who killed the governor's wife's cat, and so he became the prison dog), Death Row, the 45 foot long escape tunnel one of the prisoners dug, and the prison hospital, complete with tuberculosis ward. Then I bought a mug in the gift shop. I stayed for 90 minutes, then hopped back on the next bus.

This is a statue of Joan of Arc, back in the museum section. The skyline shot shows how far it was from downtown, where I was staying.

After that, we wound around the city and went by the Rocky Steps, then through Antique Row, Society Hill, South street, and the Maritime museum. They were all very pretty and quaint. Then I got off for my last stop, the Mutter Museum. This is a museum of medical oddities. I looooved it. You aren't allowed to take pictures. They had all kinds of skulls, skeletons, internal organs with grody tumors, and jars and jars of fetuses. Also lots of conjoined twins and skeletons of giants. The creepiest one was the cyclops baby. It had one eye, and then a long proboscis nose ABOVE THE EYE. EEEEK.

Then I walked back from 22nd street to Chinatown, maybe 16 blocks. When I was on the bus, I saw a noodle house that looked like it would hit the spot. It did. I had lamb with hand cut noodles, then ice cream. Then I walked back to my hotel to pack and get ready to go home. I miss my house, Doc, Elli, sorta Kenni, the kids and grandkids, my friends, and the hospital. I am hoping that travel tomorrow will go smoothly. The shuttle picks me up at 6 am. Well, here's to a safe trip home for me!!!

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.

Beautiful BeanTown

So Doc and I spent three days in Boston, while I was on my way to Philadelphia for SHEA ID week. We had a layover in O'Hare airport, which sorta scared me, because the few times I have gone through that airport, all I remember is running madly to catch my plane, which was far, far away. But this time, all went smoothly. We had genuine Chicago dogs for lunch there.
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Here is a shot of the B terminal. They have figured things out - if you are making a connection from United to United, then you stay in the same terminal. None of that tram stuff needed.

We stayed at the Westin Waterfront, which was really nice. For our first meal, we went to O'Connors, an Irish pub there. We had fish n' chips, clam chowder, curry fries, and Angry Orchard cider. It was indeed a bit o' the craic.

The next day, we took the subway to the train station, and then took the train to Salem, the witches' town. It's a half hour by train. It just so happened that since Halloween is coming up, they were having a big street fair called the Biz Baz Fair. It stands for Bizarre Bazaar. We walked practically every street in town.

As you can imagine, everything there is dedicated to witchcraft, sorcery, and the like. Here I am, posing in front of a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery as the lead character in the show Bewitched.

We also tramped around a creepy old cemetery, where all the town's movers and shakers have been buried since the mid 1600's. The oldest grave we could find dated back to 1616. We were surprsied that there were several people who lived to a ripe old age back in those days, although there were lots who died young (some very young.) In this picture, you can see the BizBaz in the back, along with the Salem Witchcraft Musuem. <

This is the Witch House, which is said to be the last house standing that was at the center of the Salem Witch Trials. At first, I thought it was the house of the Seven Gables, which is also in Salem.

After that creepiness, we walked through the historic district, to look at the beautiful old mansions. This one was my favorite. They mostly date back to the 1700s, and are now converted into bed and breakfasts.

Here is the porch of a private library, called the Anthanaeum- members only. We speculated that maybe there are a bunch of secrets and spells in there.

We had dinner at Pickering's Wharf. In the background, you can see the antique vessel "Friendship". We ate at a restaurant called Finz. Doc had a lobster roll and a farmer's salad, and I had more clam chowder and fried calamari. Here is a picture of the lobster roll.

Then we took the train back to Boston, and relaxed. The next day, we took the subway over to see Harvard University. Doc really like riding the subways and trains. Here I am, in front of the Harvard logo, "Veritas", in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Building.It's blurry, but it's the only pic I have.

Doc had a burger and fries there. He is quite the bottomless pit. Since it was a beautiful day, we strolled around campus for a while. We stopped at the bookstore, where I got a jacket and Doc got a ball cap. Then I went into the Memorial Church Hall. Inside, they have all the names of all the students who died in either WWI or WW2 engraved on the wall. It was quite a sight.

Then we took the subway back to Boston Common. Once again, Doc relaxed under a tree, while I walked around. I covered the entire thing in under an hour. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. There was a man playing a samisen on this bridge, so when you walked around, you were accompanied by beautiful, haunting Japanese music.

In the Public Gardens part of the park, there is a lovely floral garden, wich a huge statue of George Washington on horseback right in the middle.

Then I went across the street and walked the Commonwealth Mall, which is a lovely, tree shaded pathway. I spent some of the walk with a man and his awesome Smooth Fox Terrier. Then I circled back around to see the Frog Pond. There was a sign saying that feeding the frogs was strictly prohibited, along with depositing human waste. I had no intention of doing either.

Then we went to Chinatown. We had a nice dinner at the Dumpling House. We had beef with scallions, Szechaun pork, and BBQ ribs with sauteed spinach. We also had soup with tripe, but I ate Doc's, because tripe grosses him out.

After that, it was time to go home and rest and pack up for our flights the next day. I flew directly to Philadelphia, while Doc flew back to HB via Houston. We had a great time - we liked the old buildings and bridges, and we liked trying out the inner city life. Boston is a very clean town. The weather was nice - it was sunny, and in the high 60s in the afternoon. This was one thing that I had wanted to cross off the bucket list, and now I have done so, with many fond memories attached. Stay tuned for part 2 - Philadelphia !!!