Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple
February 18, 2017:
It started off great with a steal of a bus ride purchase that would take me from Washington, D.C. (Union Station) to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (30th Street Station) on Megabus. The trip up was only $15; the return trip only $5. But alas, at around 4:30 this morning I realized that the metro subway service just two blocks from my house did not open until 7 a.m. on Saturdays. Normally it opens at 5 a.m. Consequently, I wouldn’t make it to Union Station in time for my 7:15 a.m. departure.
Nuts.
So I checked Uber. $35 to get me there. So I checked Megabus again. $37 to catch the next bus at 9 a.m. With temple sessions on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. I could still make it with the later bus departure but I hated having to pay another $37. I called Megabus and to my delight was told that if you miss a bus you can pay $5 more to get the next one if there’s room. So at 7 a.m. I headed out the door, grabbed a sausage egg mcmuffin at McDonalds (across the street from the metro) and hopped on the metro to D.C. When I got there I was overjoyed at what I heard: they weren’t even going to charge me the %5. I would be in Philadelphia by 11:45. Perfect!
Well, not quite so perfect. On the way up the lady sitting next to me on the bus started throwing up. Motion sickness. I felt for her. Not much I could do and she didn’t want to move anywhere.
We finally made it and I was overjoyed.
I walked about 20 blocks to the temple. Loved the beautiful light-wood floors they have inside. Having learned a few things about looking for hidden items in some of the paintings in the Payson Temple, I checked out the paintings here with an eagle eye too. It’s symbolic of what happens in a temple—the closer you look, the more you see.
They have some beautiful ocean-blue furniture pieces inside that go well with the lighter-colored wooden flooring. I’ll probably frame this photo in that same blue.
A man outside took a photo of me afterwards. It turns out he is the father of a business associate of mine back in D.C. He actually lives there too.
It was my father’s 87th birthday today. He’s been gone for some 39 years now. I invited my siblings and others to go to a temple today for his birthday. They liked that idea.
Afterwards I walked through the Visitors’ Center then went a couple of blocks and saw Friday’s. I was sold. Sat down at the bar to avoid the 30-minute wait and ordered the All-American Burger with a strawberry lemonade. Ben Franklin would have been proud.
All things considered, today I would rather have been in Philadelphia!