Lollercaust in Philadelphia
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This is an excerpt of a trip report I made for a business trip to Pottstown, PA in 2006. I really wish I had pictures to go along with this, but I think the prose does a decent job at documenting the insanity of it all.
[Cut boring work stuff]
At this point it was about 12:30, and we wrapped up and headed for Philadelphia for a couple hours of (as it turned out, incredibly ironic) sightseeing.
Upon arriving in the city and parking at “One Independence Mall”
(conveniently located across the street from the Hall), we were
pleased to learn that there is now a rather heavily guarded fence
around Independence Hall. I thought that was both fitting and
appropriate. It was adorned with American flag-themed banners, so this
made it acceptable, not to mention aesthetically pleasing.
From there we slowly made our way through the hellish heat (100F +
Humidity) to the Liberty Bell building where we met an impressive
display. An airport security-style checkpoint had been set up, along
with another much less decorated fence. I expressed concern that the
security clearance personnel were not checking our shoes for weapons,
but they seemed to think that was excessive…
In retrospect, I regret not having thrown my shoe at the bell to earn my
place in the history books as the reason why everyone must visit the
Liberty Bell barefoot. But hey, hindsight is 20/20.
Once inside, we were informed that the liberty bell will never ring
again. I’m not so sure. I bet with the right style shoe it just might.
Once we got all that out of the way, we decided to head for the airport to
learn that our plane was perpetually delayed due to a storm in Pittsburg.
Also, airport air-conditioning was on the gimp, so the weather inside mimicked
the weather outside. The City of Brotherly Love wasn’t done Brotherly Loving
us apparently.
Southwest offered to provide a discount stay at a local hotel and a
free rebooking the next day, but we decided to save some money and
just wait it out. This was made easier by the fact that the airport
did have WiFi access. Unfortunately this was commercial, paid access,
but we were able to save some more money by sharing the service of a
generous stranger.
Later, we found someone also was kind enough to bridge their own
Ad-Hoc card to the paid service for everyone to use. Showoff.
Eventually, the plane did arrive, and we touched down safely in
Oakland at approx 3am.
Well that’s it. Back to the old grind. Sex. Work. Death. Um Yeah Whatever.