Take the Train to Philadelphia

One of the perks of my former job was the ability to take the Amtrak train anywhere.  While I only ended up taking a single long trip during my tenure there (from Chicago to Minneapolis), we did take advantage of the ability to travel the Northeast Corridor as a family.  We took multiple trips to Philadephia and New York.

In November 2021, Dan and I took a final free train trip to celebrate our 19th anniversary.  For those who do not follow the traditional anniversary gift guidelines, the 19th anniversary is the "Bronze" anniversary.

Obviously, this meant that we needed to go visit the Rodin museum.  No, not the one with the really cool secret wall door... 

You might not have noticed the door if it weren't for the green light and signs.

...the Rodin museum that we can travel to by train from Washington, DC to Philadelphia.  

We saw this Thinker...

Thinking in Philadelphia

not this one...

Impressive Statue?  Non!  The children were unimpressed.

I have to say, after dragging the kids to the Musée Rodin, it was a relief to have willing travel companions for this particular adventure.

Unwilling Participants - January 2018

We accomplished this by convincing/telling our friends Hillary and Kevin to accompany us on our train adventure.  

Happy Travelers - November 2021

We set off on our adventure on Saturday morning, taking the train to Philadelphia.  Besides a grumpy single passenger who wouldn't let the four of us sit together, the train ride was great.  We quickly sipped coffee by removing our masks, then, as per instruction, put them back up in between sips.  We learned that this was the proper protocol when we took the kids to Philly back in the summer.  After arriving at the station, we walked over to our hotel and dropped off our bags.  

Philadelphia Train Station

Having worked up a bit of an appetite for lunch, we wandered over to Gran Caffe L'Aquila, of course.  They had pleasant, covered outdoor seating.  This was helpful because it started to drizzle partway through our meal.  The wine was good, and the food was organized by Italian region.  Unfortunately, we did not get to try the gelato after dinner as we were completely satiated.

Next was the Rodin Museum.  I originally visited this museum with my dad back when I was 17.  Dad had taken me on a trip to visit some colleges.   We went to DC, Philadelphia, and Rochester.  

Proof of First DC Trip

Dad Thinking at the Rodin Museum
when he was My Current Age

Now, I was visiting the Rodin museum with Dan, Hillary, and Kevin.  It was pretty much the same and still impressive.

Smooth Lines out of Rock

That evening, we watched the sun set from the top of our hotel.  We had views of the nearby Basilica, and we got to stay warm-ish around a rooftop fire pit.

The fire will keep us warm!

Tasty Pink Drink

After drinks, we found our dinner at a fantastic restaurant called Amuse that served French food but was in the lobby of a hotel.  The steak frites were good.  The poor waiter was also the bartender and was utterly alone.  It was still a good experience.

The following morning, after a filling breakfast at a busy cafe, we headed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  This is the museum with the "Rocky Stairs," so you see many people posing at the top in triumph after running up the stairs.  This is also a museum that my dad and I visited back during our college visit trip.  However, we got to the museum right before it closed and somehow convinced them to let us go in.  Unfortunately, we were only able to see the armor exhibit.  It was still there.

Dan looking at Armor

One of the reasons I wanted to go to Philadelphia was the special exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Museum.  I've been a fan of Jasper Johns for a while, and since Michael Crichton is one of my favorite authors, I have the book he wrote on Johns.   

Jasper Johns' approach to the use of stencils in his work reminds me of the way Will approaches a lot of things.  Crichton asked Johns how he selected the particular number and letter stencils that he used in his art, and he replied that the stencils that he used were the ones that were available.  

Seeing so many of Johns' works in one place was fascinating.  Of course, there are always a few works in DC at the National Gallery, but this collection was quite extensive.

We saw tons of other art in the museum as well.  On the top floor, they had even rebuilt whole buildings inside the museum and had a french courtyard with a fountain.  There were even some French people speaking French (But I think they were museum visitors like us).

Hanging out in the French Courtyard

Fountain!

And here is some non-building-based art.

Van Gogh, Miro, Monet, Mondrian, Magritte

After the museum, we returned to grab our bags from our hotel and then continued to the train station to go home.  We arrived to a still-standing house; the kids had survived without us overnight.  

Overall, we saw tons of art and had great food with willing friends.  Philadelphia is a great city and I will miss traveling there for free by train.