Philly Before the Shore

After a business trip to New Jersey, I had a weekend at the Jersey Shore waiting for me in Asbury Park. Before heading to the coast, though, I took a detour to explore Philadelphia.

City Hall dominates the center of town. It’s a wedding cake of carved stone with William Penn on top, and that weekend a Christmas tree stood at its base. Octavius Catto stands in bronze outside, honoring a civil rights leader too many people have never heard of. A few blocks east, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell sit among bare trees and the last of the autumn color. Of course, no visit would have been complete without a stop at Geno’s.

The ocean was waiting for me, but I was in no hurry to get there. Standing where the country was argued into being, the detour felt like the right place to start the weekend.