Now that my East coast trip is in the rear view mirror, here’s a quick recap of the end of the D.C. leg and my week in Philadelphia:
On my last morning in town, I visited the National Building Museum, having almost left D.C. before remembering the Lego exhibit going on there. The last visit of any length I made to D.C. also involved a trip to the Museum, where I remember an exhibition on air conditioning and the South. This time, I was happy to see some of the world’s great buildings rendered in Lego, as well as an unexpected surprise, a terrific show on World’s Fairs of the 1930s around the United States. I loved seeing the architecture, design, and especially the souvenirs from each fair (New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, San Francisco, San Diego), including a few photobooth photos.
I returned to my hotel, checked out, and then made my way to Union Station for my Acela to Philadelphia. A quick 90 minutes later I was in 30th Street Station, and took the subway to my hotel, the Loews Philadelphia in the landmark PSFS Building in City Center. The interior retains a lot of the design elements the building had in its former life, and my room had a nice view off to the east.
After dropping my stuff off, I headed out to explore Philadelphia. I’d been here once before for a day in between CTY sessions when I was working during college, and for an hour, perhaps, for cheesesteaks before Julia’s wedding when Aimee and I were here in 2008.
The rest of the week was a bit of a blur, as the conference always seems to be: sessions all day, a few moments in between to get food and regroup, and then screenings, dinners, and long nights out with friends we see once a year.
Some highlights follow. First, Philadelphia architecture, history, and design:
Reading Terminal Market, across the street from our hotel
A tour of Eastern State Penitentiary
A tour of the Wanamaker Organ
The Rodin Museum
It was an enjoyable and exhausting trip. My panels went well, but sucked a lot of energy out of me, with preparation and panelist wrangling and everything.
Aimee’s grandma took a turn for the worse while I was away and Aimee and her mom were with Grace in L.A. They headed back to Boston, and shortly thereafter, she passed away, at the age of 101. She was a remarkable woman, and never failed to make me feel completely included in the family from day one. I am so glad she and Grace got to meet this fall. We all met up for her funeral service in Long Island on Monday, and then headed back to Los Angeles with heavy hearts.
I’ve got a busy few weeks at work until Thanksgiving, at which point I’ll take off a few more weeks to be home with Aimee and Grace, which should be great. It’s amazing to see her growing so quickly; maybe staying home with her a little longer will help slow it down a bit.
