We woke up to brilliant sunshine in Philadelphia, and it was supposed to be snowing!  What a great surprise!  We met Mary and Peter, and asked the concierge if there was a place nearby that we could go for breakfast.  She suggested Green Eggs Cafe, and said it was around the corner, less than a block from the hotel.  Well, she lied!  At the end of the day, it was worth the trek, but it was more like 6-7 blocks from the hotel.  Breakfast was very good, and kept David and me pretty full for the rest of the day!  It was also great to break bread again with Peter and Mary.  After the hike back to the hotel, we sat for a few minutes, finished packing, and dropped off our bags with the bellman and headed to the Barnes Foundation.

First, the building is really simple and beautiful.  I think it was a great setting for the collection – calm and quiet – preparing you for the riot of artwork inside.  We had a great time wandering through the galleries, but, at a certain point I went into overload.  It is a really interesting and thoughtful way to present art, but there is something to be said for a bare wall with one incredible painting.  There was so much, and so much of it is great to genius.  I look forward to going back, and would suggest to anyone planning a visit, to spread it over at least two days.  We broke it up, and really just took our time and wandered through.  I say wandered, but I was pretty methodical – starting in room one and ending in room (I am guessing at the number) sixty – I didn’t want to miss anything.

After viewing the collection, we went to a special exhibit on Dr. Barnes, and my favorite part of that were the selection of letters he sent to people denying their requests to see the collection.  He must have been either a very funny guy or just ornery, but he wanted particularly wanted to keep people who thought they were important away.  One of the letters, to Alexander Woolcott, was signed by his dog, Fidèle and in another, writing to Walter P. Chrysler in third person while pretending to be a Third Assistant Secretary he responded: “because he gave strict orders that he is not to be disturbed during his present strenuous efforts to break the world’s record for goldfish swallowing.”  He got my respect!

Then, off to the train, and home.  When we got off and found a Red Cap, we headed up, and it was raining a bit, but by the time we went from the door to the taxi, it had changed to snow.  David’s favorite part of traveling by train is cutting to the front of the taxi lines with the Red Caps!  I thinks it’s pretty cool too, especially when it is wet and cold!

Project Runway tonight (shocking turn of events!) and then the blog and object number 81 (we are getting dangerously close to 100), Shi’a Religious Parade Standard.