Sunday, January 27, 2013

Philadelphia

Philadelphia City Hall, Broad St.

We had a really nice day.  We left West Haven about mid morning and arrived in Philadelphia around 1pm.  We are staying in the same hotel we used last year, The Double Tree on Broad Street.  It's a perfect location for us.  We can walk to everything.  Broad Street is the central artery of Philly and home to the major performance and art centers.  Out our 25th floor room we look directly down Broad St to the Philadelphia City Hall atop of which sits a sculpture of William Penn.  Much to my amazement I discovered the sculptor to be Alexander Calder, grandfather to the 20th century sculptor of the same name.  Tonight we had a perfect dinner at The Capital Grill. Everything was cooked to perfection, the service was unobtrusive and complete and the setting rich and comfortable.  After dinner we saw Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband at the Walnut Street Theater, America's oldest theater.  It is over 200 years old and has had such notable performers as the Barrymores, Will Rogers, The Marx Brothers, Helen Hayes, Henry Fonda, Sidney Poitier and Jack Lemon.  The play was funny and the acting good although a bit dated in its take on women.