I just spent a marvelous week discovering Philadelphia with an Elderhostel program.  I went with my friend, Madeleine, and we were on the go the entire week.  We stayed in a hotel in "Center City," the heart of Philadelphia designed by William Penn in the late 17th century.  The plan is based on a grid and includes green space.  Today, the Center City is going through a rejuvenation that is drawing people to its cultural, historic, and commercial offerings.  New buildings are going up, old buildings are being reused, and row houses are being restored.  And, there is a lot of green - trees had just leafed out, azaleas were in bloom, and grass was being mowed.

This is Penn's plan of the city.  The red dot is the location of our hotel and the green dot is City Hall.  For more about Penn's plan of the city, go to: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/PENN/pnplan.html



Our hotel was located on South Broad Street along with several theaters, the University of the Arts, and the Kimmell Center for the Performing Arts and home of the Philadelphia Orchestra.



The green arrow indicates our hotel.



The green dot indicates our room.



Installed in  the sidewalk were a great many plaques honoring Philly's musicians.  Here are two.



Monday's program included speakers on the topics of our "Founding Fathers" and the collections at the Philadelphia Art Museum and the Barnes Collection.  We also took a walking tour of Center City where we visited City Hall, the Wanamaker Building, and the former Reading train station.  Above is City Hall viewed from South Broad Street. 



Construction of the Philadelphia City Hall began in 1871  with the intention of  making it the tallest building in the world at 548 feet (including the 37 ft. statute of William Penn on top). However, by the time it was completed, the Eiffel Tower had been constructed.  Today it has the distinction of being the tallest building in the world constructed of stone without metal supports.  For more information about the City Hall, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_City_Hall and

http://www.phila.gov/property/virtualcityhall/home.asp.

The statue of William Penn that adorns the top of the tower along with 249 other sculptures in bronze and stone were created by Alexander Milne Calder, grandfather of Alexander Calder known for his mobiles and stabiles.



Across the street from City Hall is the Wanamaker Department Store Building, now Macy's.

John Wanamaker opened his men's clothing store in 1876 and soon added women's and children's clothing to his line of merchandise.  The present store was built on the same site in 1910.  In the center seven story courtyard of his new store, Wanamaker installed an organ that had been built for the 1904 St. Louis World Fair. It originally had over 10,000 pipes and it took 13 freight trains to move it from St. Louis to Philadelphia.  Today it has 28,482 pipes and is played daily.  From Thanksgiving to Christmas, a 15 minute light and music show is presented every hour from store opening until closing

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Center courtyard of the Wanamaker Store.



On the ground level is a huge bronze eagle looking up at the pipe organ.  John Wanamaker purchased the eagle after it was displayed at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.

For more information about the store, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanamaker's
for information about the pipe organ, go to: http://www.wanamakerorgan.com/about.php



Mosaic decoration in the lobby entrance to the store.

Our next stop was a visit to the former Reading Train Station,



Today the building looks much as it did when it was a functioning train station.  The multi-storied section is now a hotel while the vaulted area behind is a convention center.  On the ground floor is the Reading Market.





The grandeur of the former station is wonderfully preserved.  In this part of the convention hall, the location of the original train tracks are marked in the marble floor.  Above is a suspended sculpture.  Unfortunately, the sculpture can not be adequately appreciated because the busy linear elements of the ceiling compete with it. It was not a good choice for this site.



The Reading Terminal Market has a  thriving  array of offerings - meats, seafood, fruits and vegetables, baked goods, confections, souvenirs, and food stalls.  And it is packed full of people taking advantage of these offerings.  The atmosphere is authentic (as opposed to Boston's Quincy Market which is a modern re-creation.)









He's making my lunch.



Cheese steak with onions, mushrooms, and ketchup.









This is Madeleine in her bright attire on a very dreary day.  It rained off and on all week!

In the evening we attended a recital at the Curtis School of Music where Josef Spacek gave his graduation violin recital.  This extremely talented young man, who has performed throughout Europe and the United States, really wowed us!



To view a video of Josef Spacek performing, go to: http://www.instantencore.com/video/details.aspx?Source=youtube&SourceId=Bmfe9f1LOIM

To learn more about Josef Spacek, go to: http://www.instantencore.com/Core/bio.aspx?CId=5120638