The City of Brotherly Love

http://www.answers.com/topic/love-park

This week I was in Philadelphia. Spent a couple of days getting a whirlwind tour of Central City and parts of North Philly. Central City is niftty. Crowded, cramped, diverse, vibrant, and just pretty damn cool. Had dinner one night at Square on Square--a small Chinese restaurant that was damn good. Had dinner the second night a few blocks away.

Three of us set off to find vegetarian Philly cheese steak and had been directed to a place on 20th and Chestnut (not that that means much to me). I was dressed in interview clothes yet I was more than willing to go lowbrow for a veggie Philly cheese steak. But this place was pretty damn lowbrow and there was nowhere to sit. So, we wandered a bit more. I was with someone that had lived in the neighborhood and knew a few areas. There was a great Cuban place around the corner, he said, except that it was now an upscale Italian place. A little too upscale for me. But there was another "fabulous" place that was very "continental" across the street--also Italian. We went there. This was a teeny place--maybe seven tables. Kind of dark, run by a guy with an accent that seemed to be a mix of Italian and East coast. The cook had black curly hair, wore houndstooth checked pants, a white tshirt, and a long apron with tomato sauce stains. He had a thick east coast/Philly accent. Oh, man, it was some of the best food I have had in a long time. Ravioli with a ricotta mix with something else, cream sauce and fresh peas. We had brushetta, garlic bread, decaf espresso and sour cream cheese cake for desert. The chair of the search committee and I were dead set on finding someplace with alcohol, but this place didn't have a liquor license--it was BYOB. So no liquor. Although the table across from us said they would've shared if we'd asked. It was definitely a neighborhood place, and it was so amazingly good.

I heard lots of things about Philly, especially North Philly, before I went, but you know what? I liked it. Someone I met there compared it to Chicago ten years ago, and I could see that. I enjoyed myself more than I expected.

As always, the airplanes and airport were interesting. The trip there was uneventful--I slept most of the way. Although we did end up in a holding pattern above the Philly airport and then it took us another 30+ minutes to get to the gate. The trip back? Interesting. I got to the airport early to catch an earlier flight to give me a bit of breathing room in Charlotte. I ended up getting to the airport ten minutes before I was supposed to.

On the flight out of Philly I sat next to an inquisitive young man. He was eleven years old and was in love with my iPod. He amused that I had Marvin Gaye in my artist list. There were a series of other questions:

Do you like Bill Clinton? I like Bill Clinton. Do you like George Bush? I don't. Do you believe in angels? Do you believe in god? It's okay if you don't because everyone can have their own opinion and that's okay. You have a Razr phone? And an iPod? You must be rich. You have cats? Do you like dogs? My dad just moved in with his girlfriend, but don't tell anyone, okay? Promise? Promise?

This kid about killed me. He slept for a little bit but then was awake and talking. He did make the flight go faster.