Philadelphia, PA
2019 Road Trip, Stop #2
Philadelphia, PA
The next stop on my trip down the east coast was Philadelphia. Here I met up and stayed with an old friend from college, and since it was the weekend he was able to act as a bit of a tour guide and bring me around to see a few things in my short time there.
Since I only had one full day in Philly, and his house was within walking distance of 2 popular attractions, it made choosing what I wanted to see very easy!
The Philadelphia Museum of Art
We started in the morning at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The view from the top of the "Rocky" stairs on the southeast side of the museum looks down Benjamin Franklin Parkway towards downtown. The pattern of great weather and blue skies continued; hovering around 50 degrees and a little chilly with the wind, but the sun was shining and you didn't even notice the cold if you kept moving.
I didn't take any pictures inside the museum because it feels weird to me to take pictures of art in this kind of setting. I prefer to try to view everything with my eyes instead of through a camera lens. But I did get to see many famous pieces by well known artists such as Monet, van Gogh, Picasso, Cézanne, and Dali - as well as learning some new artists whose work I really enjoyed.
Eastern State Penitentiary
To the east and down the street a few blocks from the Art Museum is the Eastern State Penitentiary. At one time it was the most famous and expensive prison in the world, but now is a ruin, museum, and popular "haunting" tour spot.
I would have LOVED to do a night tour here, but unfortunately they don't start the season for those until April. Regardless, in daylight hours it was still an incredible spectacle! The admission price of $14 included an audio headset tour, which lead us down a specific path through the prison and lasted about an hour. The narrator was Steve Buscemi - it was really entertaining and informative!
After following the audio tour, we roamed around the prison for nearly another 2 hours! The prison was originally designed with 8 corridors like the spokes on a wheel, but many additions were made over time and it ended up being a bit of a maze to us. Plus, being that most of the building is in ruin and each corridor looks very similar to the others, it was very easy to get turned around and find yourself walking down a corridor you'd already seen.
When the prison was first built and brought into operation in 1829, they invented what would be known as the "Pennsylvania System" for their rehabilitation method. This system was based around solitary confinement of each prisoner.
This systems was heavily opposed by the public, and due to that and overcrowding it was eventually done away with in favor of the "New York System" of forcing prisoners to do labor together each day.
As mentioned above, the prison is now both a ruin and a museum. Several sections were closed off due to unsafe conditions and/or construction that was in progress. There is a constant struggle of restoring parts of it to make it safe for visitors, but also leaving it in a partially ruined state for authenticity.
Philadelphia, PA
The next stop on my trip down the east coast was Philadelphia. Here I met up and stayed with an old friend from college, and since it was the weekend he was able to act as a bit of a tour guide and bring me around to see a few things in my short time there.
Since I only had one full day in Philly, and his house was within walking distance of 2 popular attractions, it made choosing what I wanted to see very easy!
The Philadelphia Museum of Art
We started in the morning at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The view from the top of the "Rocky" stairs on the southeast side of the museum looks down Benjamin Franklin Parkway towards downtown. The pattern of great weather and blue skies continued; hovering around 50 degrees and a little chilly with the wind, but the sun was shining and you didn't even notice the cold if you kept moving.
I didn't take any pictures inside the museum because it feels weird to me to take pictures of art in this kind of setting. I prefer to try to view everything with my eyes instead of through a camera lens. But I did get to see many famous pieces by well known artists such as Monet, van Gogh, Picasso, Cézanne, and Dali - as well as learning some new artists whose work I really enjoyed.
Eastern State Penitentiary
To the east and down the street a few blocks from the Art Museum is the Eastern State Penitentiary. At one time it was the most famous and expensive prison in the world, but now is a ruin, museum, and popular "haunting" tour spot.
I would have LOVED to do a night tour here, but unfortunately they don't start the season for those until April. Regardless, in daylight hours it was still an incredible spectacle! The admission price of $14 included an audio headset tour, which lead us down a specific path through the prison and lasted about an hour. The narrator was Steve Buscemi - it was really entertaining and informative!
After following the audio tour, we roamed around the prison for nearly another 2 hours! The prison was originally designed with 8 corridors like the spokes on a wheel, but many additions were made over time and it ended up being a bit of a maze to us. Plus, being that most of the building is in ruin and each corridor looks very similar to the others, it was very easy to get turned around and find yourself walking down a corridor you'd already seen.
When the prison was first built and brought into operation in 1829, they invented what would be known as the "Pennsylvania System" for their rehabilitation method. This system was based around solitary confinement of each prisoner.
This systems was heavily opposed by the public, and due to that and overcrowding it was eventually done away with in favor of the "New York System" of forcing prisoners to do labor together each day.
As mentioned above, the prison is now both a ruin and a museum. Several sections were closed off due to unsafe conditions and/or construction that was in progress. There is a constant struggle of restoring parts of it to make it safe for visitors, but also leaving it in a partially ruined state for authenticity.
I know from one visit that the Eastern State Penitentiary is a MUST for any trip to Philly. (That and finding a delicious Philly cheese steak, of course!) Even if you've seen it before, it's worth a trip back again. They are constantly updating it... They open certain cells for temporary artist installations - which we really neat. And there were tours of other areas that we didn't even go on since they only happen at specific times of day.
My one full day in Philly was really great! We tried to tack on a few more sightseeing spots at then end of the day, but since it was Sunday everything closed at 4 or 5 PM. There was so much to see at the art museum and penitentiary that we pretty much spent the entire day there! Not complaining though - I really enjoyed them! But now I can't wait to come back to Philly again some day to see all the other amazing things this city has to show me.
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