You'll notice that today's map is a little different. Instead of showing my path to a new spot, today it shows the path that I returned on. My coffee excursion today was part of a last minute art adventure. Despite the heat index hovering around 103 degrees, I found myself shlepping off towards 4th street. I was headed to the fabulous fabric district to buy a few yards of cloth for a last minute installation. For those not from the area, the fabric district is a cluster of streets where fabric is stuffed from floor to ceiling, sometimes many stories high. Browsing might leave you lost for days, but if you go knowing what you need, you will find it. I quickly did, but knew the walk back would be a killer, so I took the opportunity to discover the Philadelphia Java Company. I stepped into a cool oasis and forgot about my walk home. The coffee shop was bright and filled with sunflowers on this afternoon. Situated on South 4th Street, in what looks like an authentic old store front, down to its tin ceiling, it was filled with people both inside and out. In addition to my rich, dark ice coffee, I fueled up with a labreh sandwich *scrumptious*. This delicious delight involved italian bread, a creamy middle eastern yogurt spread, giant olives and olive oil - most of which ended up drizzled down the front of me because it was so delicious I didn't even notice the mess I was making. Leaving Philly Java, I shook my head at the bravely insane souls sitting outside on this painfully hot day. I wandered my way back to center city through the historic Old City district. Shockingly, the extreme heat had not slowed the onslaught of families to Independence Mall. I took a quick peak at the Liberty Bell as I slipped into the always free and mostly clean restrooms at this national park before continuing to trudge through the heat. I had just come from what really was a neighborhood coffee shop, through one of the first neighborhoods in this city, which was one of the first neighborhoods in this country. While I had taken that for granted, all of the people braving the heat around me had not. I was free to take this walk through the birthplace of freedom and all I was focused on were the free bathrooms, sounds about right.
For those interested in the art that lead to this adventure, you can check out my completed installation if you click here.
