Our first day in Philadelphia out on the town was a lot of fun. Beginning with a tour of the murals that are scattered around the city was a great way to get a quick history of the city and get to know where things actually are and why they are significant. I probably learned more about William Penn and Ben Franklin that I have since third grade. Evy, our tour guide, was a cute old woman in her 60s I want to say, and definitely did a good job of holding our attention. She went into detail about the formation of the murals, which put a lot of things in perspective for me. I had no idea that it takes anywhere from a day to a year of meetings to come to a consensus about what the neighborhood feels is appropriate to display on a wall designated for a mural. It really speaks volumes about the city and why it’s known for brotherly love – I can’t imagine a Mural Arts Program in Baltimore. The people just aren’t the same; it’s something that you can just feel when you’re there.
After the murals, we went to lunch and walked off the calories on a few mile trek to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, otherwise known as the Rocky Balboa Steps. On Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the street leading to the steps, there was a Greek Independence Day parade going on, which was something extra and fun that we were fortunately able to experience. There were representatives from probably thirty countries, with their respective flags hanging every half block or so along the parkway. After it was over, a lot of the people jogged up the steps and it was just interesting to watch these foreigners express themselves in a place so foreign to both of us. We sat on the steps for a good half hour in the seventy-five degree sun with perfect weather and even better company. Overall, it was a great way to start the trip, especially since we had not really gotten to know one another in the twelve hours we spent together on the trip to Philadelphia the previous afternoon.
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