Day 18: Philadelphia, PA
Welcome
Yesterday we began down the East Coast, arriving in Philadelphia, PA.
We awoke to some sad news. Ballface was tragically killed overnight after being left in front of a heating vent. Ballface joined the tour in Bismarck, ND, after I won the crane game at Space Alien Grill & Bar. Their presence on the bus will be sorely missed.
Please email me at breakfastandtravelupdates@breakfastandtravelupdates.com if you know any locations in West Virginia where I can recycle PVC plastic.
I found a breakfast at a small establishment just around the corner from where the bus was parked called Mini Mighty Grub. They serve American fare, and I ordered a local delicacy, a Ribeye Cheese Steak.
I carried the sandwich to a nearby climbing gym where Liz and Tristan were waiting. Tristan and I had both decided to bite the bullet and buy a set of climbing shoes; the rental shoes are usually in poor condition and don’t fit my feet very well. While we tried on several different brands of this specialist footwear we each ate half of the sandwich. My chosen shoes are blue with yellow laces.
We had a climbing date with our friend Jacob, who plays in Lucy Dacus’s band. He is a skilled climber, climbing at a V6 level (V stands for vermin) while we all peaking at around 2 to 3 vermins. The scale is open ended; currently the highest vermin you can achieve is 17 but that could change in the future.
In the afternoon I went for a run and made a touristic error. I had been recommended to visit the atrium of the Curtis Center, and the famous Dream Gardens which were also housed in this historic building. The atrium had handsome marble floors complemented by brass railings and Corinthian columns. At the far end of the room is a tiered marble fountain flanked by a number of small shrubs, which I assumed was the Dream Garden. What I found out later on is that the Dream Garden is a actually a magnificent coloured-glass mosaic situated near the entrance to the building. I must have entered from the wrong side and missed it.
Our venue was in a building constructed in 1889 to house the Spring Garden Farmers Market. Later on it housed the Union Transfer Baggage Express Co. which stored luggage for the adjacent railway company. It also housed a Spaghetti Warehouse which I was disappointed to discover was a chain restaurant, not a food storage facility. Today it is used to store up to 1200 people at a time for live music events. The original wooden beams and arches betray the age of this space and the chandeliers contribute to making it feel like you are in a Victorian-era great hall.
Once the show was underway it no longer felt that way; the Philly crowd gifted us the first circle-pit of the tour and contributed a fun and ferocious energy the whole night.
There were some of lovely gifts left at the merch table after the show. Sidney received some fan art and we were gifted some boint art. I thought it was a lovely token of appreciation for the boints system; it showed a healthy understanding of the rules and regulations of this quite confusing topic.
