The history tour continues in Philly. But first, we went in to see the art museum and the Rocky steps. Did a museum highlights tour with a docent and learned a lot. The Museum has a very eclectic collection including a bunch of very nice impressionist pieces. I especially liked the monastery atrium and fountain they had brought in with frescoes and a neat view of a triptych from the center. I like these tours as you get some depth on the pieces.
The next day I went into the city alone to check out Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, And the US Constitution center.
I did not get to the Constitution Center before. Wow. I was impressed. Very cool to see all the negotiations and back room deals that had to be made to get it to pass. I especially liked the room with al the life sized bronze statues of the delegation to the continental congress.
We went to new London and the Coast Guard Academy Museum and learned about the history of the Coast Guard. honestly, I did not know anything about it. It was started by merging five different services. The first was the Revenue Cutters. I knew about them from my time with the San Diego Maritime Museum as the California is a replica of a Revenue Cutter. It was also merged with the lighthouse service, the rescue service and a few others to form the Coast Guard. Don't have any pictures of this though so heres one of the riverfront.
Went into Providence and went to the Rhode Island School of Design museum. Another unexpected gem. This was on Benefit Street, a street with a bunch of historically significant buildings. The museum had this great exhibit on Surimono. These were commissioned by Poets in the early 1800s and often were slightly irreverent and mocking of the higher poetry of the time. They would commission a wood blick print from the artist and then write their poem on it and give it to friends. Very cool stuff.
We also went to the Mystic Seaport Museum which was so much bigger than we expected. It is a whole 1800s seaport re-created with shops as well as boats. They had the last original whaling ship. A bit gruesome but history isn't always pretty.
The cordage house was also very cool. This picture does not fully capture the size of this building and this was only half of the original. It was over 1000 feet long. So much artistry along with the automation. They had to know how to pay out the hemp fibers while it was spinning and how fast to run the twisting carts down the length of the factory to get it even and strong.
They were restoring a very old large wooden fishing ship and that looked like a huge job. I think there were more holes than solid wood. Apparently these were built to be very fast and carry a hugh amout of sail as when they were laden, they had enough ballast to really fly canvas and the fish needed to be brought back fast so it did not spoil.
I also just rode the bike around the harborfront town and enjoyed the new england scenery. The Mystic River drawBridge is really old and is fun to watch go up. Everything is so green here I don't know what to think. I know it gets a lot of snow in the winter but it looks really nice to me.
Of course we had to get a cheesesteak at Geno's and Pat's King of Steaks for a taste off. Natch we got em"whiz wit". Actually, could not tell the difference. Would be funny if they were owned by the same people but they were super good. I think the only time i eat cheez whiz.
The next day I went into the city alone to check out Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, And the US Constitution center.
Independence Hall was sold out so I just got to take pics from the outside. No Biggie as I had seen it before.
The Bell is always strangely inspiring. I mean, its just a cracked bell but there is something powerful about it.
That was pretty much it for Philly. The next stop was Mystic CT. This was a rather long stop for a small place with nothing much going on. A time to rest and recuperate a bit. Mystic is a sleepy riverfront town that is known for an 80s movie. It is super pretty though. We did discover that Connecticut is known for pizza (even though I never heard of Connecticut style). We had to go to Mystic Pizza and I must say, It is very good Pizza, Thin very crispy crust with teh ingredients under the cheese.
I went into Newport Rhode Island to get a haircut and see the sailing museum and sailing hall of fame. Mostly devoted to racing which makes sense as they are the start of the Newport to Bermuda regatta each year. Interesting museum with a lot of interactive exhibits.
It was my birthday so my Mom took me out for lobster. Found a little place right on the water and got a no frills lobster. How can you go wrong! Not a bad way to ring in 61.
We went to new London and the Coast Guard Academy Museum and learned about the history of the Coast Guard. honestly, I did not know anything about it. It was started by merging five different services. The first was the Revenue Cutters. I knew about them from my time with the San Diego Maritime Museum as the California is a replica of a Revenue Cutter. It was also merged with the lighthouse service, the rescue service and a few others to form the Coast Guard. Don't have any pictures of this though so heres one of the riverfront.
Went into Providence and went to the Rhode Island School of Design museum. Another unexpected gem. This was on Benefit Street, a street with a bunch of historically significant buildings. The museum had this great exhibit on Surimono. These were commissioned by Poets in the early 1800s and often were slightly irreverent and mocking of the higher poetry of the time. They would commission a wood blick print from the artist and then write their poem on it and give it to friends. Very cool stuff.
We also went to the Mystic Seaport Museum which was so much bigger than we expected. It is a whole 1800s seaport re-created with shops as well as boats. They had the last original whaling ship. A bit gruesome but history isn't always pretty.
I found the navigation instrument shop to be super interesting. A good sextant was the equivalent of $3,000 to $6,000. They also had clocks, compasses, and other navigation equipment.
The cordage house was also very cool. This picture does not fully capture the size of this building and this was only half of the original. It was over 1000 feet long. So much artistry along with the automation. They had to know how to pay out the hemp fibers while it was spinning and how fast to run the twisting carts down the length of the factory to get it even and strong.
They also had a lego shipwreck (brickwreck) exhibit that was really neat. I really liked the front half of the Titanic sinking. Very imaginative.
Next it is off the the Boston Area to pick up Sue and continue into Maine and Canada. Next post will have a co-editor.
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