Philadelphia: Day 1

Day 1
- Quote of the Day
- In Transit
- Union League

Andy Warhol: Why do people think artists are special? It's just another job.

Off to Philadelphia on the Monday morning that the truck went off the Bay Bridge at 3:30am. We didn’t know that, just got alerts that the right hand lane on bridge was closed due to an accident. As we drove slowly by, we saw no emergency vehicles, just what looked like minimal Caltrans trucks and almost no people. Only later did we find out they were just sitting there, the real action was 200 feet down.

United flight took off with old crew of sterwards/sterwardess. Guess they have cut staff by seniority and young folks aren’t flying these easy routes. This crew struggled with the new “credit card only for food” devices (yogurt, we got no stinkin’ yogurt on this machine), couldn’t cool down the cabin, left the film (Up, how appropriate) stuck on credits for an hour or so. Oh, and had to be trained on how to get the individual seat lights to work. At least we didn’t end up over the Atlantic while the flight crew played video games.

We are staying at an old hotel/members club: Inn at Union League. Very old time feel, if you come in through the main entrance, men are supposed to be in sports coats! Damn, so that’s why I brought mine. And, the fitness center is mostly geared towards the external members, with the club offering up gym clothes in case you don’t want to use your own. It’s kind of nice, you can leave a pair of shoes and socks at the club and be all ready to go, no lockers full of not-so-clean-smelling gym clothes. My gym clothes turn out to be a direct match: dark blue shorts and a grey t-shirt. Mine get hung in our bathroom each day and clearly add to the aroma in our large room.

Number one best, absolutely best, feature: they have a cord for a FREE DSL hookup in the room, and I have brought the usb converter for the HP mini...we are cooking right here in the room. And, the number 516 is stenciled on our door, and yet we’re in room 501 as the plaque to the side of the door verifies.

Front desk guy recommended Philly cheesesteaks in south Philly; drier style, not as fatty, not as tasty (well, duh! Not as fatty...what was unclear about that).