July 2nd was the real day of Independence
and also when I (finally!) met up with shveta_thakrar and we had a day of exploring, capped off with fireworks.
She came to meet me in my province of West Philly, and then we took off for Chinatown (on the 34 trolley that never comes on weekends--what is wrong with you, trolley?). There was a block party and we foraged through street vendors selling Chinese clothes and entirely unrelated-to-Chinatown jewelry. I ended up getting a vintage sundress that I had to have tailored, and Shveta was more prudent and did not give in to impulse buys.
Then we walked over to South st to check out Loving Hut, a cheapie vegan lunch place I had wanted to try out. (And as their website just informed me, actually a chain restaurant!) The food varied (I got the wrap and wasn't too impressed with it, but Shveta's entree was much better), but it was decent for what's essentially a vegan fast food joint. But the interior decor was... something. First we saw a cute little drawing of a cow with a word balloon saying something like "I am happy cow, I have friends and a family, do not eat me, go veg!" That was silly, but ok and kinda cute. On the other wall, however, there was a collection of portraits of various celebrities and a sign: "These smart, beautiful people are vegan and vegetarian, why aren't you?" Which I found less cute. I find most such propaganda pretty cringe-worthy: I'd much rather there were just pamphlets on veganism available at the counter or something, rather than preachy signs and posters all over the place. But then! We noticed the tv! There was a large tv behind us set to a channel subtitled in every language--it was showing "natural disasters around the world" interspersed with talking sheep telling us to go vegan and save the Earth, and then Buddhist hymns about animal welfare by Supreme Master Ching Hai. Which makes sense with this little tidbit from the chain's website: "Supreme Master Ching Hai is the innovator for Loving Hut Vegan Concept. She wants to help the world with a more compassionate and noble way of living by making vegan food easily available to everyone in different parts of the world!" And I appreciate that, but the ever-present tv reel of New Agey cultish propaganda, less so.
I will say that for fast cheap food, even if some of it was rather bland, at least most of the options were pretty healthy. So if I was in the neighborhood and not in the mood for vegan hoagies or pizza at the much superior (but also slightly pricier Blackbird Pizzeria), I would go again, I suppose.
We then made our way down to Penn's Landing and walked into the Historic Pavilion Craft Market at 2nd at Lombard, which I was really excited about, because I keep trying to find that area when I am with Philly visitors and yet I never can. When I am walking around Old City by myself, I have stumbled upon that block many times. But whenever I am trying to show visitrs around cute quaint parts of Philly? Never.
Since Shveta was not a visitor and we were not looking for it, of course we walked right into it. But now I know where the area is for future reference. It wasn't so much the Market that I was looking for as the street, since it has cobblestones and the Pavilion, and the Artful Dodger pub. On this particular day, there were also several men and women in Colonial costume milling outside the pub--and more within. They said they were reenactors who stopped by there for dinner. See? This is exactly why I wanted to bring visitors there. So we could have dinner in a tavern on a cobblestone street, with people dressed in historical costumes dining all around us.
Eventually we got to Penn's Landing and rested there (it had been over 5 hours of walking!) while we waited for the fireworks. Well, Shveta rested. I walked another several blocks trying to find a place that sold fruit juice smoothies, and ended up giving in and just buying a Coke that I could have gotten at Penn's Landing anyway. The fireworks, however, were fantastic. We managed to get a spot down by the water, and it was beautiful. Really a great display, and much more impressive than I thought they'd be. So even though we then had to take over an hour to trudge back home in all the exit traffic, I am glad we decided to go there. All in all, it was a very fun day of walking and fountain splashing and craft marketing.
Not sure whether I'll go see them again tonight though.
She came to meet me in my province of West Philly, and then we took off for Chinatown (on the 34 trolley that never comes on weekends--what is wrong with you, trolley?). There was a block party and we foraged through street vendors selling Chinese clothes and entirely unrelated-to-Chinatown jewelry. I ended up getting a vintage sundress that I had to have tailored, and Shveta was more prudent and did not give in to impulse buys.
Then we walked over to South st to check out Loving Hut, a cheapie vegan lunch place I had wanted to try out. (And as their website just informed me, actually a chain restaurant!) The food varied (I got the wrap and wasn't too impressed with it, but Shveta's entree was much better), but it was decent for what's essentially a vegan fast food joint. But the interior decor was... something. First we saw a cute little drawing of a cow with a word balloon saying something like "I am happy cow, I have friends and a family, do not eat me, go veg!" That was silly, but ok and kinda cute. On the other wall, however, there was a collection of portraits of various celebrities and a sign: "These smart, beautiful people are vegan and vegetarian, why aren't you?" Which I found less cute. I find most such propaganda pretty cringe-worthy: I'd much rather there were just pamphlets on veganism available at the counter or something, rather than preachy signs and posters all over the place. But then! We noticed the tv! There was a large tv behind us set to a channel subtitled in every language--it was showing "natural disasters around the world" interspersed with talking sheep telling us to go vegan and save the Earth, and then Buddhist hymns about animal welfare by Supreme Master Ching Hai. Which makes sense with this little tidbit from the chain's website: "Supreme Master Ching Hai is the innovator for Loving Hut Vegan Concept. She wants to help the world with a more compassionate and noble way of living by making vegan food easily available to everyone in different parts of the world!" And I appreciate that, but the ever-present tv reel of New Agey cultish propaganda, less so.
I will say that for fast cheap food, even if some of it was rather bland, at least most of the options were pretty healthy. So if I was in the neighborhood and not in the mood for vegan hoagies or pizza at the much superior (but also slightly pricier Blackbird Pizzeria), I would go again, I suppose.
We then made our way down to Penn's Landing and walked into the Historic Pavilion Craft Market at 2nd at Lombard, which I was really excited about, because I keep trying to find that area when I am with Philly visitors and yet I never can. When I am walking around Old City by myself, I have stumbled upon that block many times. But whenever I am trying to show visitrs around cute quaint parts of Philly? Never.
Since Shveta was not a visitor and we were not looking for it, of course we walked right into it. But now I know where the area is for future reference. It wasn't so much the Market that I was looking for as the street, since it has cobblestones and the Pavilion, and the Artful Dodger pub. On this particular day, there were also several men and women in Colonial costume milling outside the pub--and more within. They said they were reenactors who stopped by there for dinner. See? This is exactly why I wanted to bring visitors there. So we could have dinner in a tavern on a cobblestone street, with people dressed in historical costumes dining all around us.
Eventually we got to Penn's Landing and rested there (it had been over 5 hours of walking!) while we waited for the fireworks. Well, Shveta rested. I walked another several blocks trying to find a place that sold fruit juice smoothies, and ended up giving in and just buying a Coke that I could have gotten at Penn's Landing anyway. The fireworks, however, were fantastic. We managed to get a spot down by the water, and it was beautiful. Really a great display, and much more impressive than I thought they'd be. So even though we then had to take over an hour to trudge back home in all the exit traffic, I am glad we decided to go there. All in all, it was a very fun day of walking and fountain splashing and craft marketing.
Not sure whether I'll go see them again tonight though.