Friday, January 21, 2011

Cheeseburger?

Walking in Philadelphia is an adventure, even on campus, for someone from cookie cutter suburbia like myself.  Although in this weather anything over an hour gets pretty bitter what with the wind, slush, and cold temperature.  So with multiple layers of clothes and a Google map print-out, my friend Maddie and I left for center city.  We took the subway down as usual to get to Dick Blick's although we ended up inside city hall's courtyard when we exited which is currently under renovation.  If Maddie had listened to me though, we'd still be underground.  The courtyard had such a strong likeness to my memory of Munich's city hall's courtyard and of my senior trip this summer; I'm disappointed I haven't visited it sooner.  Not to mention the walkway screens covered in large murals.  I have a weak spot in my heart for murals, and I have never seen a city utilize them as much as Philly does.  I can hardly go a week without discovering a new one.
Apparently a good number of art students had already been down to Blick, because the cadmium yellow light slots in a majority of acrylic paint brands were empty.  I'm still not used to the perseverance of city people and wintry weather.  My sisters have gotten two snow days and a morning delay this week for hardly anything; to be fair, they aren't a five minute walk from school.  Maddie's wanted to visit Chinatown and since I am unable to remember the time I "apparently ate there" we walked on over.  Along the way, we saw a man hand a cheeseburger to a man sitting on the sidewalk.  That might have been the highlight of my day.
We wandered around the outskirts of Chinatown for quite awhile before realizing this and actually going in and not around.  Both of us were fairly cold at this point, and it wasn't much better anywhere we stopped.  Considering I spent all my money on supplies, the fragrant, warm smells of food were especially cruel.
We did manage to see the gates and some neat alleyways and fire escape ladders.  Also there was this barbie doll display.  Ken, or one of his friend's, was in a leotard and we had to stop and examine how many of the Disney dolls we could pick out.  I picked up numerous odd objects per my usual habits, and I found two especailly great things.  A 3 of diamonds card, exactly like the card I have in my deck, except beaten and dirty, I love cards.  I also found a green bead.  Which sounds silly, but in middle school someone in my neighborhood spilled these green beads everywhere so when my friend and I went on our adventures, we'd follow the green beads like breadcrumbs and pick them up as we went.
Our last little discovery before we left was a little memorial garden across from a red door with green and white surroundings.  Green bushes beside a little red bench sitting in snow looked and felt like winter, and the weather strongly supports it.  My toes are still cold.