Arrival in Philadelphia

Woke up early at 4.30 and headed straight up to the bridge to watch our entry into Philadelphia.







The pilot was a young lady from Philly. We slolwly snaked our way up the river passed oil refineries and old forts and into the city of brotherly love.

















Docked at the Tioga Marine Terminal. Was offered a lift into Philly by a Pakistani Catholic priest from Lahore who worked part time for the Seam Man’s Church. Now I thought that the key skill of a priest was to listen. This man was extraordinary. He could hardly speak English and wasn’t interested in anything anyone said. Asked me where I wanted to go and explained down town Philly and the cultural area. He then proceeded to drop me at a wallmart in a distant suburb! So then spent the next couple of hours walking out to a metro station.





There is a lot of unemployment and poverty in this city. The suburbs outside the core down town area are rough and depressed. Many of these area I was hiking through did not feel safe. Oh and the key dress for native Philly lads must be the vest. Everywhere I looked and kids walked round in sleeveless vests!




Finally ended up in the heart of the city. Visited the liberty bell, city hall, memorial to the unknown soldier. Fascinating.












By early evening I was starting to really flag. Spoke to Benji, a cinematographer from AFI and he kindly invited me to his stag do that night in Philly! Would have been fantastic to go along and was honored to be invited but by 8pm I was dropping on my feet and would have been no fun at all. So alas I was not able to participate. I guess it was a messy evening! Cheers Benji.



My taxi driver on the way back to the port happily pointed out where all the recent local murders and shootings took place. Nice.