Today is cloudy with rain expected, so what was planned for today wasn't probably going to happen.
We didn't have time to finish everything yesterday, so thought it was best to start there at the Fairmount Waterworks but as usual the there is always a massive gap in the service when you want to go anywhere, plus the real timing on the maps only updates when it feels like it most of the time, sometimes it feels like we have gone back years when it comes to this sort of thing.
The bus stop is just outside the hotel so it was just a matter of time, but you almost always seem to just miss one, anyhow, it's about 20 to 30 minutes ride on the bus that seems to take the strangest route but it was it is I suppose.
The Waterworks was built in the 1800s and has had many improvements or cost-saving adaptations done to it until it closed around 1920. The story of it is told in a theatre and just like all the other big cities across the world at that time they ended up turning their drinking water into a chemical infested open sewer (now its just plastic that screws up the system), after it finally closed due to population growth the upper reservoirs had The Philadelphia Art Museum, built on them and I suppose the actual basins form the basement of the museum now, its an intriguing place to visit plus it's free because as it's classed as a national monument. One thing that did confuse me was at the main exhibition is on a lower level there is an elevator down with 2 options, B & BR (ground floor is level 1) which turns out, are both the same level, but B which was the next button below the level BR opens the doors behind you that only take you to the toilets, if you push BR which is the very bottom button you would think it would go to another floor but no, it opens doors on the other side of the elevator. Wouldn't it be better to just call them main exhibition & restroom?
After about an hour in there it was time for a walk down the banks of the Schuylkill River, however, I really should have checked the weather as part way down it started to rain, then there was a thunderstorm so we had to take shelter, under a tree is not the best place but that's all that was on offer. It stopped fairly quick so scampered down to a bridge just in time before there was an almighty storm with thunder and lightning coupled with torrential rain, and that was where we stayed for about the next 40 minutes before it eases off for enough to wheel and walk at an accelerated pace, cross the freight train lines, take shelter in a doorway until the bus was nearly due & roll 1 block to get there as it arrived. Real-time worked this time.
We got off at whole foods to dry off and have some lunch in the cafe before walking down to the Thinker Statue then something I always seem to do is find which building Earthcam is on that stream live (the link is on the web version of the blog) and take a picture of it. Sad Ha
From there we went to Con Murphy's pub bit it was poop and pricey, as I mentioned before the bus service is crap most of the time, so ended up walking to The Locust Rondevous in light rain for a few drinks in there, but that's not that cheap either, even though it claims to be, at least it is only down a side road from the hotel and only a few minutes to get back from.
After a sit down in the hotel for a couple of hours, we headed out to the liquor store, then caught a bus about 4 stops to the Chinese takeaway then walked back to the hotel.
