Saturday!

It's actually Sunday and don't have much time online so this will be a quick and dirty. Friday I exhausted myself and brought back the cold so getting up Saturday wasn't as easy. So got going and hit up the library and blogged a bit. Again this is a cool little town, best described as a pocket full of real America, a collection of good wholehearted people. While waiting for my buddy Stephen to finish up some work and to get going into to Philly, I got a waffle sundae at a cool restaurant called Pops. Had an amazing conversation with a woman named Rosanne (also from the Phily area) who was visiting her daughter who just had her first child, and Rosanne's first grandson. We talked of New Mexico, a place she wasn't so fond of, but I hope I brought a better taste of it to her in our conversation. After this amazing lunch I met Stephen for a trip to the Franklin Museum. This was also profound in that I am preparing to enter graduate school to study counseling and this exhibit was an amazing tour of the human body in relation to function, thought, and a sympathy for the soul. It is something I am pondering in my life so it was very moving to be able to examine the body's layers. Then the magic happened. We met Stephen's brother for dinner at he most amazing Italian restaurant just blocks away from where the Tumolo's grandparents were raised. So many nostalgic stories. Francoluigi's Pizzeria & High Note Cafe. Seafood ravioli is what I had, and the wait staff where professional singers, and unbeknown to me so was Gary, Stephen's brother. A stroll through the streets of south Philly topped off a true Philly experience. Back to the land of enchantment a noche! Q-vole

Friday

Today I felt good and walked to the Collingswood train station to catch a ride into Phily. The first stop is a place called the Gallery, aka a big indoor shopping center, ranging from a Big K and a typical mall. I wondered around town trying to get my bearings, not having a map or a plan, made this dificult. I got to see the Phily culture. Comparing it to the next largets city like it, New York, it is a more quiet, but just as intimidating. I saw very few latinos. It does not seem as poor as New York.
After I figured out where I was I headed towards the historic district, running right into the Liberty Bell. There, amazingly, was a short line. No pictures because right as I was going to take one, the batteries in the camera ran out. So I strolled around old city and grabbed an early lunch at a place called Jones, and I had the special, a pulled pork sandwich. Later that afternoon, I was heading over to the museum and found St Peter's church and as I walked in mass started. Interesting! Who has mass at 1:00, anyway. Felt compelled to stay for mass and ended up enjoying the quiet prayer time. I walked over the museum part of town, and took a slow and mindful time with all of it. Art Museum and Rodin! Came back to Collingswood and had a nice dinner with Stephen. After dinner we strolled down to the a coffee shop where they were having some open reading. A young man named Malik Abdul-Jabaar was reading some powerful writing about his Phily life. What a great and profound moment. The coffee shop is called grooveground and the manager helped me out the whole trip, good guy.

First Night

Alright flying into Phily was bumpy. We flew right across the four sports stadiums. Wow a ginormous events facility for each major event; Baseball,Football, Basketball, Hockey. Had dinner at a place called Chickie & Pete's. Iwas seafood chowder, mussels with white sauce, and snow crab. Everything was a new taste for my buds. Drove out of the city into a neighboring town and met some friends of Stephen's for some yoga. The leaves are still falling and there are tons of oak trees, so the leaves are specially shaped like little cut outs of kindergarten snowflakes. There are no way points so I felt dissoriented not knowing north, sout, east, or west. After yoga we got settle at Stephen's place and I went out and cruised Collingswood for around an hour or two. It is truly the definition of the American smalls town, and it is only around a 20 minute train ride from Phily. I bought some nyqil and called it a night.

Flying Out

Thank you Tirzah for opening this trip with a ride to the airport!
I will be in Philadelphia for the weekend visiting a good friend. It is my first time in Philadelphia and I am sick. I am sitting in the Denver airport pondering all the memories made in this city. It is amazing how different life has become. So many memories to let go of here. I grew and changed here. The airport itself hods so many triggers. My flight is now boarding so more to come soon. God willing!