photo essay: philly

--Murals murals everywhere. this certainly is a decorated city. beautiful. however, learned a bit from Iris's friend Greg about the politics of murals- who gets to paint them where and how.  the Mural Arts Program who paints the majority of them is run by the Anti-Graffiti Network.  Most murals are painted over graffiti art, the program claims to involve young graffiti artists and the local community in the creation process, although we know of one neighborhood in west Philly where, funded by the University, they forwarded it's agenda and were less than respectful of the neighborhood's ideas, wishes and even individual's likenesses which are pictured in the mural without permission!



Mandi, fun and spunky young yogi in training, fellow blogger and nanny extraordinar, welcomed us into her home, her room and her bed.  Plenty of cozy, tea, conversations and Glee.



bountiful breakfasts. Zach made delicious vegan pancakes which through no fault of his own may have set off the smoke detector early in the morning (sorry Morgan!) which caused Chels and Mandi to (wo)man the doors, using them to fan smoke out of the apartment.  when Iris made a veggie, tofu scramble and sautéed apples the morning before there were no major tragedies.  having use of a kitchen and people to cook for: priceless.

















Chelsea has made a regular habit of changing her footwear on Frida.  The Auxiliary might also be called "Chelsea's dressing room".










Philly also provided an opportunity for much needed haircuts for Chels and Zach.   The barber shop open for business.





Chels discovers Jauque outside of Honey's.
 Love at first sight.

Iris re-connects with Greg, a high school friend and inspiration 8 years later.  Greg is dancing, living in a land-trust co-op in west Phily and generally being cool.  plus he has a porch swing.





the road crew and our hosts all do a lot of biking around the city.  ask us how Philly's public transportation is...we have no idea.
the vegan gives Philly 4 out of 5 bell rings for bikeability.










getting lost in the enchanting jungle of the City Planter.

Also business shout out to Art Star, a really cool little shop/art gallery with a bit of everything.  Mostly smaller crafted items, unconventional cards, pins, jewelry etc.

Phenomenal Philly we leave you for DC, but hope to return some day at the very least for some more vegan treats!

where are we now?  follow our progress and the break down of our route on our map!

the bean counter
miles traveled: 101
pieces of snail mail sent: 11
delicious vegan treats consumed: 5
mullets: 0

(sorry for the massive gaps and formatting issues, including photos is difficult and mysterious--even blogger is sure where the photos are going to appear until they do)