Walk Slowly and Bow Often: Philadelphia's best

I spent another great day in Philadelphia.

The Swann Memorial Fountain (also known as the Fountain of the Three Rivers) is a fountain sculpture located in the center of Logan Circle.

Adapting the tradition of “river god” sculpture, Calder created large Native American figures to symbolize the area's major streams, the Delaware, the Schuylkill, and the Wissahickon. The young girl leaning on her side against an agitated, water-spouting swan represents the Wissahickon Creek; the mature woman holding the neck of a swan stands for the Schuylkill River; and the male figure, reaching above his head to grasp his bow as a large pike sprays water over him, symbolizes the Delaware River

The Masonic Temple is one of the more magnificent buildings in the city from the outside, its Norman cathedral-like exterior rising wondrously across the street from City Hall. But its interior architecture is amazing and varied. Oriental Hall, for instance, replicates part of the Alhambra, with its Moorish grille-like features. Gothic Hall has royal high-backed 19th Century hand-carved oak chairs and is a grand homage to the European Knights Templar.

With its grand façade, vaulted dome, ornate main altar, eight side chapels and main sanctuary that comfortably holds 2,000 worshippers, the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul is the largest brownstone structure and one of the most architecturally notable structures in the city of Philadelphia.

In Fairmount Park is the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial of America's history. Mrs. Samuel, who died in 1913, left a sum of money for the memorial.

The South Plaza theme is the initial founding and settling of the nation: Birth of a Nation, The Puritan, the Quaker, the Revolutionary Soldier, Settling of the Seaboard, and the Statesman.

The Central Plaza theme is expansion, immigration, and hard work, with Spanning the Continent and Welcoming to Freedom on either end, Spirit of Enterprise in the center, and the Miner, the Ploughman, the Slave, and the Immigrant crouching at the corners of the side entrances.

The North Plaza theme is diversity and achievement of a mature nation, with standing figures of the Laborer, the Poet, the Preacher and the Scientist, and the J. Wallace Kelly relief, Hand and Eye, which shows a hand, an eye, and the tools of an artisan.

Love Park is the brainchild of former Philadelphia City Planner Edmund Bacon and architect Vincent G. Kling. The park is across from City Hall and was designed as a terminus for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The park was built in 1965 and covers an underground parking garage. The main features of the plaza are curved granite steps and a single spout fountain which was added in 1969. What was once the city visitor center was closed down for five years, but opened up in May 2006 as The Fairmount Park Welcome Center. The park was dedicated in 1967 as John F. Kennedy Plaza.

A "Love" sculpture, designed by Robert Indiana, was first placed in the plaza in 1976 as part of the United States' Bicentennial celebration. It was removed in 1978, but the sculpture was missed and the chairman of Philadelphia Art Commission, F. Eugene Dixon, Jr., bought the sculpture and permanently placed it in the plaza, in 1978.

City Hall - I went to the top, directly under the statue of William Penn.

View from the top.

Up there is Mr. Penn's statue.

See the statue way up there?

Downtown skyscrapers.

Quite stunning is “The Comcast Experience,” a 2,000 square-foot LED screen projecting computer-generated images so realistic, you’ll think they’re jumping out of the wall. With a resolution 500% greater than that of an HD television, the Experience is a remarkable technological and artistic achievement. (Their words, not mine; however it was fun to watch.)

The video wall, a giant HD video screen that is actually the largest four-millimeter LED screen in the world, is located in the building’s publicly accessible main lobby.