We hit the road Friday morning at 8:45 am - a light breakfast was served at the hotel - I had a taste of the scrambled eggs but then settled for a Chobani yogurt. We were heading to Market Street in Philadelphia to an auction preview and stopped at Dunkin Donuts for coffee. Unlike the beautiful day we had yesterday, today was cool, dark, damp, and dreary - but colorful pansies greeted us at DD to brighten up the day.
There was a light mist as we arrived at the auction preview site, but parking was going to be an issue - I don't think there is any parking in Philadelphia!! Johnny drove around several blocks until we weren't quite sure where we were - the GPS brought us back to Market Street - Johnny went to try a parking lot across the street, but it was a private lot. I spied what looked like a parking space across from the gallery - but we didn't hold our breaths - there were all kinds of signs above the space. Johnny checked it out, paid the meter, and we ran across the street to the gallery.
Johnny had an appointment at 10, but the guy wasn't there yet. They let us check out the auction items. Johnny and Vickie are into modern and/or mid century antiques which are not really my style - but the more I travel with them, the more I can recognize some pieces but not always the creator. The art work is definitely not my style. Johnny always surprises me with how much he knows about woodwork, sculpture, paintings, etc And how much he knows about the artists. There was one large room of items for the upcoming auctions. We made our way around the room - I did appreciate some of the furniture - tables, chairs, desks, bureaus - not your average colonial or mission style - but I do like the look and feel of some of the pieces - the hard, cold, smooth wood - the varying colors of chocolate/brown. I am beginning to recognize some of George Nakashima's works - butterfly joints and live edges. Johnny and Vickie love George Nakashima's works - Johnny said that they started buying pieces years ago, but now his pieces are worth thousands and thousands of dollars and out of their reach! Below is an example of his work - the butterflies are the light colored wood holding the 2 pieces together. The live edge is more visible on the top side - it is not straight - it is natural. My son Dan had a live edge table made for their kitchen.
The rain had picked up by the time we left the gallery. Johnny and Vickie wanted to drive through Philadelphia's old city where there were art galleries and restaurants - on first Fridays they used to have open studios, music - I think they said the streets were closed so people could wonder through the galleries. J & V had been several times some years ago. But shocker! A lot of the area has been razed! Whole blocks have been torn down! And new cookie cutter boxy apartment or condo buildings are being built. The older buildings that had character are being destroyed, and these ugly new buildings that I have also seen on the west coast and along the east coast are springing up. Johnny said that he "didn't recognize anything because everything is gone." I don't know that area but surely some of those older buildings could have been rehabbed. Such a sin! It is like the suburban developments that are being built - huge houses that all look the same with large manicured lawns. A loss of character, a loss of history.
I did like all the street art - there were numerous murals painted on walls - all kinds of topics. Too bad it was raining - it would have been interesting to walk through some of the neighborhoods. There was a gorgeous mural that the city had paid for depicting the history of immigration. There were even murals under the underpasses.
The rain was heavier when we were leaving Philadelphia. We passed all kinds of bridges - there are the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers I think.
We had an appointment at a museum at 1 pm - it was about 11 now - so we had plenty of time to grab a bite to eat. Johnny decided to head out to the museum which was a half hour drive and eat there. Wrong!! We hit the worst traffic I have seen in ages. Every highway coming and going was bumper to bumper - it was everywhere - we could see roads blocked when we came to cloverleafs. We did notice that with the rain everything was in full bloom - there were sporadic lilac bushes along the highway. The sign ahead of us said Pennsylvania Turnpike 6 miles will take 25 minutes. Johnny does not have much patience when he is driving so he pulled off at some exit after we had sat in traffic for 20 minutes or so. We followed the back roads to the museum - it was dark, foggy and very wet.
Taking the back roads was a good decision - it was amazing the transformation from horrendous traffic to rural landscapes! There were beautiful colorful flowers and trees. Pennsylvania has yellow covers on its recycling barrels. We passed through Valley Forge National Park - it was quiet, green and peaceful. Despite the traffic we had hit, we arrived at the museum early. The rain was still heavy - this wouldn't have been a problem except that I had left my rain jacket and new Manatee Park baseball cap at O'Dowd's Pub in Roundstone, Connemara. And I hadn't brought my raincoat - when I checked the weather before we left, I thought it said it was going to be dry and warm - I had brought 2 short sleeve T shirts and one turtleneck. I was wearing the turtleneck and an old sweat shirt. We decided to drive to King of Prussia for breakfast. Then we headed back to the museum.
The bridge to the building where we were meeting for a tour.
We were at the Wharton Esherick Museum in Malvern, Pennsylvania. I guess J & V had been by here a few weeks ago and tried to get into a tour but they were booked up. So here we are today. I had no clue who this man was. The docent took us on a tour of the living quarters. Esherick was a bohemian - he had a distinct style - there is not a straight line - angles are askew - almost everything is made of wood - and everything is made by him.
Esherick did not waste anything - in the kitchen there are 2 ceiling lights which aren't in the picture above - one lamp shade is an old piece of raw hide - the other is an old trash can lid - he recycled whatever he could. Even the kitchen sink and toilet were made from wood!
It's too bad that it was raining - we didn't tour the grounds. But the whole tour was very interesting.
I think we left the museum about 2:30. Johnny took back roads, and we meandered toward New Hope, Pennsylvania and Lambertville, New Jersey - they are connected by a bridge. They both have such cute shops and restaurants - but it was really raining now. We had passed some lovely rural areas along the way. It was about 4:30 when Vickie suggested that we eat in Lambertville since it was so crowded last night that we might have trouble getting into a restaurant closer to the hotel. They like Giuseppe's Ristorante in Lambertville so we went there. It sells pizza and Italian dishes. Johnny and I had chicken parm, and Vickie had chicken Alfredo. J & V picked up some desserts, but I still had Smartfood back at the hotel. Johnny was tired from driving in heavy rain and the traffic in Philadelphia so we called it an early night when we got back to the hotel.
We are going to Rago's auction preview in the morning and then to George Nakashima's studio at noon. We are stopping at Johnny's neighbors for a short visit before heading back to the Cape.
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