Monday, September 03, 2007
It scalds me, but I have lost the capability to upload photos. I REALLY wanted to post photos from Glacier and Yellowstone, and now photos of my new apartment and community. Meanwhile, all I can do is give you more words.
***********************************************
You know, it kind of sinks in slowly. Here I am, sitting on the sidewalk in front of my Philadelphia. Yes, it is picturesque – leafy street with colonial houses that are not yet swamped out by the larger, newer Colonial-Style apartments and condos. The street lights are electric, but they are made to look like gas lights, and they have nice flowering petunia pots hanging on them. The horse drawn carriages stop in front of the house so the driver can point out the historic plaques on the buildings and the “Mother-in-law mirrors” on the upper floors that allowed one to see what was happening on the street in both directions without having to open the window. Independence Hall is only about four blocks away for god’s sake, and a raft of other historic buildings! Matt wrote to say that Lewis and Clark sent Pres. Jefferson seeds of previously unknown trees from west of the Mississippi, and they were planted right here at 4th and Spruce. Don’t think they are growing here any longer, but it makes another nice story.
There is a courtyard-passage in the middle of the block, and the Society Hill Synagogue is on the other side of it. The Synagogue was built as a Baptist Church in 1830, and the sign in front of it informs us that: “It was in Philadelphia alone of America’s colonial cities that Quakers, Jews, Catholics and Protestants experienced the difficulties and discovered the possibilities of fruitful coexistence that American democracy was to offer. Philadelphia is a city that not only tolerated but welcomed diverse modes of religious practice from its beginning.”
I like that. Indeed, William Penn’s 1701 Charter of Privileges for Pennsylvanians stated the importance of tolerance “Because noe people can be truly happy though under the Greatest Enjoyments of Civil Liberties if Abridged of Freedom of theire Consciences as to theire Religious Profession and Worship.”
While sitting here I have met my first neighbors in my building – Carlos, and Camille I think she said her name was, and then Jason from the top floor. Then Trish from the other side of the street, whose sister? is hoping to enroll at Moore College of Art, who wanted to see my apartment because she is looking for new digs herself. She liked my fireplace. And I met Mike from next door, going in to his place with a beautiful young woman that he did not introduce.
I am definitely not feeling any buyer’s remorse. With all the shops and cafes and markets and groceries that are within just a few blocks of my apartment, this seems to provide just what I was hoping to find in center city living, and in spades. On top of it, I really feel that this is one of the most historic areas of our country. It retains its colonial feel without being a Disneyland-style reconstruction for tourism. Where else can you find that, except maybe to some extent in the Beacon Hill section of Boston?
Not a bad place to land.
***********************************************
You know, it kind of sinks in slowly. Here I am, sitting on the sidewalk in front of my Philadelphia. Yes, it is picturesque – leafy street with colonial houses that are not yet swamped out by the larger, newer Colonial-Style apartments and condos. The street lights are electric, but they are made to look like gas lights, and they have nice flowering petunia pots hanging on them. The horse drawn carriages stop in front of the house so the driver can point out the historic plaques on the buildings and the “Mother-in-law mirrors” on the upper floors that allowed one to see what was happening on the street in both directions without having to open the window. Independence Hall is only about four blocks away for god’s sake, and a raft of other historic buildings! Matt wrote to say that Lewis and Clark sent Pres. Jefferson seeds of previously unknown trees from west of the Mississippi, and they were planted right here at 4th and Spruce. Don’t think they are growing here any longer, but it makes another nice story.
There is a courtyard-passage in the middle of the block, and the Society Hill Synagogue is on the other side of it. The Synagogue was built as a Baptist Church in 1830, and the sign in front of it informs us that: “It was in Philadelphia alone of America’s colonial cities that Quakers, Jews, Catholics and Protestants experienced the difficulties and discovered the possibilities of fruitful coexistence that American democracy was to offer. Philadelphia is a city that not only tolerated but welcomed diverse modes of religious practice from its beginning.”
I like that. Indeed, William Penn’s 1701 Charter of Privileges for Pennsylvanians stated the importance of tolerance “Because noe people can be truly happy though under the Greatest Enjoyments of Civil Liberties if Abridged of Freedom of theire Consciences as to theire Religious Profession and Worship.”
While sitting here I have met my first neighbors in my building – Carlos, and Camille I think she said her name was, and then Jason from the top floor. Then Trish from the other side of the street, whose sister? is hoping to enroll at Moore College of Art, who wanted to see my apartment because she is looking for new digs herself. She liked my fireplace. And I met Mike from next door, going in to his place with a beautiful young woman that he did not introduce.
I am definitely not feeling any buyer’s remorse. With all the shops and cafes and markets and groceries that are within just a few blocks of my apartment, this seems to provide just what I was hoping to find in center city living, and in spades. On top of it, I really feel that this is one of the most historic areas of our country. It retains its colonial feel without being a Disneyland-style reconstruction for tourism. Where else can you find that, except maybe to some extent in the Beacon Hill section of Boston?
Not a bad place to land.
