When I walked home after closing, it was beautiful. I love walking in cities after there’s been a shower. Everything is fresh and clean and wonderful.

I love Philadelphia. It is just the most amazing place and I love it. I love my house, I love my commute to school, I love my walk to work (12 blocks), and I love my bus lines (17 and 40, baby). I love Rittenhouse Square. I love Washington Square. I love everything in between. I even have a guarded affection for the South Street Bridge, death trap though it is. I feel nostalgic for University City, as if I were already an alumna and didn’t still have to go down there once a week.

Rittenhouse Square

I love the way that they park in South Philly, in the median strip and double, triple, sidewise parked. I love the richy shopping on Walnut Street. I love the variety of foods in Queen Village. I love the fancy doormen at Barclays. I love walking through the center of City Hall and feeling like I’m in some European palace. I love walking down the alley streets with their little row houses and cobblestones and gas jets. I even love the outrageousness of the Gayborhood and the sleaze of South Street.

Typical Philadelphia architecture

I love the way that I can walk to the Ritz at the Bourse and see Indy and foreign movies any time I want. I love the proliferation of used books stores within walking distance of my house (five!), I love that there is a Cosi, a Dunkin’ Donuts, a Wawa, a little café every where I want to be (I boycott Starbucks- I think there are about 43 within walking distance of my house- NO exaggeration). I love my neighborhood bars (Chaucer’s, Tangier, and Ten Stone). I love it all.

Don’t you wish you lived here, too?