Today was quite interesting. I booked a bus ticket online through an agency called New Century Travel, an all Asian bus line that runs from DC to Philly to NY and back. I call it the Chinatown Express, cuz the buses run in between the Chinatowns of these cities, plus it is Chinese owned and operated.
Chinatown NYCIt is by far the cheapest mode of transport that I know of in the area, with a one way from DC to Philly costing only 15 bucks, half that of Greyhound, and a quarter of the price of Amtrak. This was an adventure in itself. Completely unorganized, yet far more comfortable than greyhound, we left from DC only 20 minutes or so late. I sat next to quite the interesting character. Bus people are always strange. His name was Daniel, a man raised in Wisconsin, and he quit a plush job on Wall Street to pursue a career as a singing star of the opera (It is apparently true that the opera singer must be hefty, cuz this guy was no small man!). But despite the madness of the man, he was very nice. He had just finished up a show in DC, and was headed back to Germany, where he currently resides, and makes a full time living out of Opera. I asked him if he had met any interesting people in his line of work ( I was thinking of famous people) and he responded in the affirmative. However, not as I had expected! He emphasized the weirdos he had met, which apparently there are a lot of extremely strange people in the world of performing arts!. After making pleasantries, I dozed off, and awoke when we were exiting the highway. This is when it gets good.
We exited the highway, and immediately got back on the on-ramp. But we did not continue, and the Asian captain of the bus immediately whipped us around in reverse, and began speeding backwards along the on-ramp, as cars entering the highway narrowly dodged colliding into us, making quite the intense situation. We then hopped on some country bum-fuck road, weaving through green pastures and farm land, every now and then seeing a cemetery, no doubt filled with veterans of the civil war. I knew something strange was in the air, cuz the driver was barking into his walkie talkie in some Asian tongue, cruising past streets, only to back up and make the turn. After about a half hour of this, he finally opened up the door and asked someone how to get back to 95! Can you imagine paying Delta to take you to Philly, only to get lost and ask for directions, while all the passengers could see what was happening right in front of them? This would cause an uproar! Now imagine this when half of the people are immigrants, probably illegal, and the other half are these crazy up north types. Well, we finally made it to Philly, and only a half hour late, which I think is a miracle, considering we left twenty minutes late and the bus got lost in the middle of nowhere.
My good friend Benny, accompanied by Donna (his old lady), his pop, and his Grandma Phyliss, picked me up. We then took a short trip over to Jersey to drop off Grandma Phyliss, amidst torrential downpours of rain. We came back to Philly, after a brief pit-stop at the King of Pizza for a quick slice, which had decent ‘za at a reasonable price, and took the little city tour. Benny’s dad turned out to be quite the expert on the local history, sites, and people, and gave us all, even Benny who grew up here, a great tour of the area. Philly is far different than I imagined. Culturally diverse in every aspect of the word, this city of two million has it all: history, colonial architecture, art, and many parks and squares, making it one of the most beautiful cities that I have seen, certainly in the US. There was not a building that Benny’s dad did not know, and we saw the world famous liberty bell, city hall, a couple of the US’s first banks, among many other sites. Of course he took us to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is famous not only for the great attractions it draws, but is featured in one the most prominent American films ever, Rocky. And in the boxers’s footsteps, we too hopped out of the car and ran up the stairs leading to the front door of the museum. From the top, you can see the entire city, resting between two rivers, with all the brick work lain in between, which would make the most critical mason in the world proud to see. Ah yes, Philly, the city of brotherly love is a sight of magnificence.
We later came back and I was introduced to his brother Jordan, his mom, and his prized dog Sophie. After a while here, we went and picked up his cousin Lauren and her boyfriend Don, and all of us youngins went out to eat at Jim’s, one of the best places in the world to get a Philly cheese steak sandwich. Located on South St, this joint’s walls are lined with autographs of some of the most famous people, including Bruce Willis. A line of hungry folks was wrapped around the corner, patiently waiting for one of those mouth-watering sandwiches. This part of town has a lively nightlife, where the young and old alike gather to have a good time, first eating at a number of restaurants, and then partying the night away.
We came back to Bala Cynwood, and dropped off the kiddies (those under 21). From there we went out to Manayunk, or some crazy word like that, located in the burbs of Philly. Benny, Donna, and I cruised down the strip, and eventually found ourselves at the Diner, where we met a pretty young bartender named Brittany. There, we had a couple of drinks, and headed back home. That is about it, so I will talk to you later.
No comments:
Post a Comment