MAY 2019 | The Australian Women’s Weekly 187
GETTY IMAGES. BERNARD O’SHEA.
Travel
W
hat goes around,
comes around.
When it comes
to cheese I’m a
perpetual P-plater:
I plonk piles of Philadelphia on my
platters. Original, Light, Chives &
Onion, Sweet Chilly Philly... it’s amazing
how many layers a cracker can carry!
So when I won a stay in Philadelphia
as a prize at a travel function, I
punched the air in triumph. “Yes!
You owe me, Philadelphia, big time!”
That night, at my computer, with a
plate of crackers
loaded with Garlic
& Herb Philly and
chocolate-coated
pickled onions at
hand to sustain me,
I embarked on a
quest for knowledge.
Where is Philadelphia,
anyway?Grand
Perched on the
western bank of
the Delaware River,
which separates
Pennsylvania from
New Jersey, Philadelphia is one of the
United States’ grandest cities. It served
as the first national capital for a
decade while Washington DC was
being built and boasts “the most
historic square mile in the country” –
Independence National Historical
Park, a cluster of UNESCO World
Heritage buildings where the
Declaration of Independence and
US Constitution were signed and
where the icon of independence and
freedom, the Liberty Bell, is housed in
a glass pavilion. A recent addition, the
superb Museum of the Revolution,
which opened in April 2017, makes
the American story much more
interesting for international visitors.
Philadelphia’s most astounding
building, though, is its City Hall.
Built in the so-called Second (French)
Empire style, it was the tallest habitable
building in the world from 1894 to
1908, but has yet to be surpassed for
having the largest sculpture on top – a
colossal 11-metre-high statue of cityfounder William Penn. The four people
beneath him on the elegant clock tower- two natives and two early Swedish
settlers – also look high and mighty
(they’re about 8m tall) and they have
three children, a dog, a lamb and four
eagles for company.
Some people seem to picture
Philadelphia as grim and gritty, an
industrial city in decline; friends gave
me funny looks when they heard I’d
be there for six days, remembering the
derelict scenes in Bruce Springsteen’s
litter-strewn Streets of Philadelphia
music video. But, hey, that’s so 1980s!
If Bruce were to do a reprise today
he’d swing by trendy cafes and pubs,
Clockwise from above: the ins and outs
of the Reading Terminal Market; Philly
Cheesesteaks from Campo’s; Robert
Indiana’s iconic statue in JFK Plaza, or
‘LOVE Park’. Left: the Delaware River.Visual feasts
parks and community vegetable
gardens, gayborhoods, and houses
adorned with hanging baskets of
flowers. As I get my first taste of the
streets of Philadelphia, by taxi from
the airport, I feel at ease, vindicated:
I can sense I’m going to like it.Philly’s favourite food
They don’t eat much Philadelphia
cheese in Philly (Kraft adopted the
brand name in the 1880s as the city
was considered the gourmet capital) →