Since last year we have adopted a different approach for our annual Quebec-Florida trip. We don’t rush to get on the road at 5:00 am in the morning and then drive until senseless exhaustion and lethargy ensue: we take advantage of the itinerary to visit or revisit the places along the way.
Last year we went back to New-York for the nth time. Two years ago we revisited Harvard University in Cambridge along with the picturesque Quincy Market, Beacon Hill, the lively Charles Street and the colourful Italian district of Boston. The beautiful town of Savannah in Georgia was also one of our most pleasant stops on this Spring’s return trip.
And thus the depressing and endless road from Quebec to Florida was transformed into a nice little five day scenic journey that allowed us to arrive in Naples fresh as a daisy and full of new souvenirs.
Last year we went back to New-York for the nth time. Two years ago we revisited Harvard University in Cambridge along with the picturesque Quincy Market, Beacon Hill, the lively Charles Street and the colourful Italian district of Boston. The beautiful town of Savannah in Georgia was also one of our most pleasant stops on this Spring’s return trip.
And thus the depressing and endless road from Quebec to Florida was transformed into a nice little five day scenic journey that allowed us to arrive in Naples fresh as a daisy and full of new souvenirs.
My Goodness, I am taking quite some time in getting to my boxer and my sculptor… well… this year our quest took us to Philadelphia. Nothing prepared in advance… but surprises are sometimes amazing and fate arranges things well.
As we stroll along the street of this friendly city, Brian asks me if I would like to see Rocky’s stairs… ROCKY’s stairs? I suddenly realized he was talking about my idol ROCKY BALBOA… he almost had to tie me down so I wouldn’t hurry toward the Philadelphia Museum of Arts and the famous steps immortalized by Sylvester Stallone in his famous film series about ROCKY.
I just adore ROCKY, at least once a year I relive his story… admire again the resilience, and authenticity of this underprivileged person notto mention his everlasting love and respect for his wife, Adrienne… it never ceases to move me.
I just adore ROCKY, at least once a year I relive his story… admire again the resilience, and authenticity of this underprivileged person notto mention his everlasting love and respect for his wife, Adrienne… it never ceases to move me.
So while in Philidelphia I climbed ROCKY’s stairs almost as rapidly as he considering that I was wearing a long coat and high heel boots and approaching sixty: I have pictures at the beginning, middle and on top of the steps to prove that I was at the legendary stairway. Brian took another picture of me near the bronze statue of my idol.
Continuing my venture from ROCKY’s stairs to my favourite sculpture, I must make digress a bit again and take you to Paris for a few moments.
Generally speaking, I am not a museum enthusiast; I went to the Louvre only once to see the Mona Lisa and a few other famous paintings and sculptures… in and out in a jiffy… but the sculptures at the Rodin Museum challenged my indifference to museums: The Gates of Hell, The Burghers of Calais, Rodin’s The Cathedrale, The Thinker.
To me RODIN is a giant, that I admire … just like ROCKY, at whose feet lies the world’s second largest Rodin Museum, with all my favourite sculptures on display, in Philadelphia.
I was born under a lucky star, imagine: meeting both my best boxer and my favourite sculptor on the way to Florida.
While in Philadelphia, we stayed at the downtown Bellevue Hyatt. There I had a little thought for Lena of Manoir Bellevue in Les Escoumins. We slept like angels in a bed that felt like a cloud… and I didn’t even dream of ROCKY or the Gates of Hell.
P.S.: While we were there the streets of Philadelphia proclaimed the virtuosity of a young conductor from Quebec, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who is now directing the prestigious Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra.
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