| Back from Philadelphia |
[Jan. 28th, 2008|03:12 pm] |
Rivers catch my eye like a pretty girl across the room.
Early Friday morning, I was on a plane to Philadelphia for a business trip. The Technical Papers Sort Meeting for ACM SIGGRAPH was that weekend, and we who wrote the electronic submission software for that conference this year had to be there to work out any emergencies and bugs that might pop up.
The plane flies low, and I have to lift my eyes from reading Henry and June to gaze at the landscape.
But especially at the rivers.
What is this gorgeous wide river we're passing over? Is that the Ohio River? No, we're too far north still. At best it would be the Allegheny River, and that's probably too narrow for this.
No, that's the Susquehanna River! Oooh, is that navigable? How far (up) can you go? (A: Not far at all. It's fast and shallow, not navigable past its mouth in Chesapeake Bay. I bet it'd be really nice by canoe, though I hear it's polluted).
We're coming in for a landing. Huge body of water -- is that the ocean (yes, my idea of where Philadelphia was located was quite fuzzy at that time)? No, the plane turns, there's the other shore. That's quite a river! That's the Delaware River, in fact! The driver tells us that cruise ships leave for the Carribean and New England regularly, out of Philadelphia. How far up can you take the Delaware? (A: Past Philadelphia and up to Trenton, NJ.)
The weekend itself goes smoothly, although it's a lot of work -- leave the hotel in the morning, and return late at night. I feel recharged -- though it's the same kind of coding, maybe just the change of scenery makes me relaxed.
Philadelphia itself surprises me. I expected it to be a lot more industrial and wasteland-y, like Detroit, no idea why. It's beautiful, though, the downtown area well-lit and bustling even on a weekend night, and of course there's the river right there with its beautiful bridges.
Now I'm back, and there's much code to write. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) yuki_onna is in the page mines all week -- her new novel's deadline is this Friday. I think I'll take this opportunity to get closer to finishing up the bathroom remodeling. |
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| Comments: |
"industrial and wasteland-y, like Detroit"
Isn't Detroit like something out of freaking Mad Max? I lived IN the city for 30+ years until moving to the suburbs, and it STILL surprises me when I see it.
Glad to hear that you are home safe and sound. :)
It is rather impressive. (Speaking of which, I randomly want to re-watch all the Mad Max movies lately..)
Thanks!
Rivers catch my eye like a pretty girl across the room.
What a great line!
Catherine
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/88771980/11033953) | From: vrax
2008-01-28 09:19 pm (UTC)
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It's there. Lower. Lowerrrrrrrrr. Lowerrrr - there! 
Welcome back. I was in Philly around New Year's 2007, and I, too, was impressed by the city. I took a great many pictures of all the architecture downtown that I've been using for art projects ever since.
As a southerner in Philly, I was impressed by the naming of bridges. That wasn't something that occurred to me (you don't see it too much down here), but it's yet one more cool way for a city to identify itself. I understand now that this is pretty coming in much of the north and northeast.
Yeah, I love that! I think all bridges should be named!
(I was just trying to think -- are they named in Cleveland? Yes, but not formally. Or something lame like the I-90 Bridge. They need signage and everything.)
I have no idea why I said "this is pretty coming . . ."
Ahem.
. . . this is pretty common . . .
How far up can you take the Delaware? (A: Past Philadelphia and up to Trenton, NJ.)
I hope that if you undertake this, you bring along a powdered wig.
Ahaaa! And I was JUST wondering, "If I get myself a powdered wig, where would I use it?" And now I know!
Philly is awesome, and has some of the best people in the world. It has better restaurants on average than New York and almost as much variety, without quite as much ego. Life there isn't always a bed of roses, but the people are passionate about living it up.
No other city in the country loves arguing as much over food as Philly does. Other cities need gangs to build tension. All you need to do in Philly is bring up which place has the best cheese steaks or water ice. (The question of who makes the best prezel, on the other hand, has long been settled.)
Why, who makes the best pretzel? :)
Federated Baking Company. Their pretzels have a distinct 8 shape as opposed to the traditional shape, have the best texture, and an ideal amount of salt. (The salt's nice and thick too, not a tiny mote.) | |
