Taking the tour you didn't know you were leading

Wow.  I have to get better about this blogging thing.  It’s been forever since I’ve posted something.

Here’s what I know.  If you take someone on a tour – be it your city or a building – you will find things you like even if you hadn’t realized it.  Someone told me this in Miami and it was true.  I would take visitors around and hear myself pointing things out, noting other things, and sure enough, there were things I really liked.

While I know I like Philadelphia, the same thing happened here last weekend.  My friend Tara came to visit from Miami.  Prior to her visit, I had a sort of odd feeling.  Tara didn’t belong here in my city of family, bricks, colonial history and more.  Tara was a palm tree and beach friend.  Tara was a Coral Gables and Coconut Grove kind of friend. But there she was at the Philadelphia airport and I knew immediately it was going to be a great weekend.

Bricks, I told her.  Bricks are the number one biggest difference between Philadelphia and Miami. I think by the end of the weekend she agreed.  Philadelphia is so sturdy and strong.  Buildings everywhere are made of bricks and stone.  Seeing Philadelphia through Tara’s eyes made me see things anew.  She marveled at City Hall and at the Art Museum. She said the city looked European.

We did a few of the touristy things.  We drove by the liberty bell so she could see it and we wandered along Elfreth’s Alley, the oldest street in the country, pondering the For Sale sign and wondering if we would even want to live there.

We had a fabulous brunch at a little neighborhood cafe, sitting outside under a canopy.  The cool part was, to get to the back, you walk through the little covered alley between the buildings.  Alleys between buildings, boot scrapers by doors, these were all new and fun.  We wandered the Italian Market, visited the original DiBruno’s cheese shop and walked all the all the way down Passyunk Avenue through a new upcoming neighborhood called Passyunk Square.  We even found an open house to pop into and take a look.  Along the way we found a statue paying tribute to South Philly’s rich heritage of Italian boxers.

Having walked so far and truly tired ourselves out, we stopped at a tiny little bakery and bought three delectable treats to take to my mom’s for a little visit.

Fortified by truly delicious sweets we hit a craft show in one of my favorite spots, Rittenhouse Square.  A beautiful park in the city and one of William Penn’s (Philadelphia’s founder) original four squares of the city.

Tired yet?  We were but no rest when you only have a weekend to play. After a quick dinner we headed off to a tiny theatre also in South Philly.  The play was North of the Boulevard by Philadelphia author Bruce Graham.

By this time I was feeling the pressure.  Tara and I used to volunteer usher together in Miami and I had often complained of the state of theatre.  Come up north with me, I would say, and we can see some good theatre.  So now I had to deliver.  I had checked this out with folks, gotten different good recommendations, but I was still feeling it.  I had never actually seen anything at this theatre.  What if it was crap?  What if I was full of crap?  Soon I could stop worrying.  The play was great.  The lead was an actor who had been in a show at the Arden and had had been great in that so I figured was pretty safe.  When intermission came, I tentatively turned to Tara and asked, “So?”  “It’s great,” she said, “especially the lead.”  Yeah!

Sunday we were off and running again. First stop was a farmer’s market at Head House Square.  This block, referring to the houses on either side and the open air canopy down the middle, was built in 1775.  We wandered along, tasted a few things and then headed to the Delaware River to continue our walk.

Finally, we perched along a small fountain do our most favorite thing, people watching. Next, we headed out to the where I grew up, Mt Airy.  We drove around looking at beautiful spring scenery and ever more beautiful houses.  Oh look, another open house.  Why not?  Then we headed to the Art Museum for some, wait for it, art, and another beautiful vista.  But wait, there’s more. 

We rounded out a most excellent weekend with Mother’s Day lunch with my family.

It was a great weekend.  It was a great fresh view of Philadelphia and it was great to have my Miami friend here to share it with.  We certainly saw a lot of Philadelphia.  It wasn’t the tour book tour, but who wants that.  It was the Hannah tour, pure and simple.  The cool thing is we both had fun and learned a ton about where I live.

So come visit.  Come see what there is to see and we’ll find it together.

Oh and thank you Tara, for taking all the pictures.  I had my camera with me the whole time and never snapped one.  Oops.