Philly

We love Philly.  We were there last week for the Harry Potter event and to visit the Eastern State Penitentiary. 

We have fond memories of Philly.  We love the Mummer's Parade on New Years Day.  We want to go again. We did it a few years ago when it was 5 degrees and windy and it was still fun.  We also love Philly's art museums and the City Hall courtyard Kris Kringle Mart and let's not forget the gluhvein in December.  

So we went to Philly with our daughter and son-in-law to attend the Harry Potter event as a celebration for our daughter's birthday.  We needed no convincing to join them.  What's not to like in a birthday celebration or a trip to Philly?  

Our daughter also wanted to tour the Eastern State Penitentiary.  Like me, she has diverse interests.  Philly is a nice, walkable city so we walked from the Harry Potter event to the penitentiary and back.  We had lunch at Jack's Firehouse Pub right across the street from Eastern State Penitentiary.  It was a fun place with decent service, food, and drink.  Atmosphere is A+.  

Though we visited the Harry Potter event first, I'll start with the penitentiary.  It presented awesome photo opportunities.  We love old buildings, peeling paint, old brick and metal and cement, imagining past events and lives lived.  This old building held a lot of suffering.  

I recall Bryan Stevenson's quotes originating from his Alabama African American prisoner justice work and the resulting book and documentary, Just Mercy : 

"Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done."

"The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated and the condemned. " 

"The opposite of poverty is not wealth.  The opposite of poverty is justice."

The last quote tells a lot about prisons, I think.  It's poor people, the marginalized people, overwhelmingly, who end up in prison.  

So even though I loved the old building, I took the time to bear witness to the old bones of this structure and reflect also on the human bones it held by force inside.

This was the medical wing of the hospital.  I lead with it to honor
Bryan Stevenson's work to be merciful and I hope this medical wing
employed staff who were in fact merciful and not predatory.

This room was staged to show what a cell might have looked like
on a good day.  The door on the far side led to an outdoor walking area. 

Below are pictures of what the cells mostly look like today. 

And here are some pictures of the hallways and other views of the grounds. 

Eastern State Penitentiary was built like a large spider with the heart in the center 
legs spread out housing cell blocks with skylights.

Eastern State Penitentiary was meant to be the first true penitentiary, going to the root of the word to penitence. Hmmmm.... 

So on to Harry Potter.

I love a good dome ceiling but it has nothing to do with Harry Potter except
it's in the building where the Harry Potter event is hosted.  But I bet we could come 
up with a good Harry Potter connection if we gave it some thought. 

Here's Andrea in Hagrid's hovel.

My favorite part of the Harry Potter event was seeing several of the costumes as well as the projection of movie views on opposite walls in some parts of the event.  The attempt was to make you feel like you were there.  It didn't quite succeed but I appreciated the effort and effect. 

The end.