Adventure #20: In Which Debbie Gets Lost (Again)

Yesterday I decided to try being independent.  On the first Friday of every month, there are art galleries in Old City that are open for free from like 5-9.   I worked until 6:30, but decided to go check it out afterwards.  I Google Mapped the directions, decided on which bus to take, and made my way to Old City.

Mistake number one was getting off the bus at the wrong stop.  I realized later that I'd gone one stop too far from my Google directions, but even if I had gotten off at the right stop, I still wouldn't have known where I was.  Where I got off, there were not many people, or shops, or really anything that looked good.  I did what I always do in these situations - texted Becky.  She told me what streets I wanted to get to.  I also saw where the tall buildings were, which helped get me oriented.  They were beautiful, lit up at night.  I tried to take a picture...this is the best I could do:

While walking towards 5th and Market Street, I also ran into Franklin Square by accident.  What a neat place!  This park was decorated for Halloween.  There was a fountain that had purple lights shining on it, a carousel, a concession stand, and what I think was mini golf.

This is supposed to be the purple fountain. I can't figure out how to make it bigger. :-/

After leaving Franklin Square, I kept heading towards 5th and Market.  Finally, I came upon what was probably First Friday.  There were a lot of people and restaurants.  I went into a cool art supply store that had everything under the sun.  I needed to use the bathroom, and was pleasantly surprised to find artwork on the walls.  This, however, would be the closest I would come to finding a gallery.  I went up and down Market Street between 5th and 3rd, but apparently the art galleries are elsewhere.  I saw a couple stands where artists were showing their work and stopped at those, and I saw a souvenier shop and stopped there for postcards, and that was about it.

Now came the getting home part.  I wasn't sure how to do that, so I texted Becky.  She said to take the 47 bus.  It took me a long time to find a bus stop with a 47 on it, but I finally did.  And here is where I made my biggest error of the night.

If you are ever in Philadelphia, you should be aware that, generally speaking, bus stops located on odd numbered streets go north, and bus stops on even numbered streets go south.  I picked up the 47 bus on 7th Street.  And I live in South Philly.  Here's the other thing about riding buses at night: if you don't know exactly where you're going, you're already in trouble because you can barely see out the windows to see the street signs, and they don't announce every stop, or even stop at every stop. 

I rode that bus for, oh, twenty minutes or so before I started really getting concerned.  None of the street signs that I could see looked very familiar, and it just felt wrong.  And then, there were a few familiar streets in a row - and I realized that the reason they sounded familiar was because they were the streets near the Brightside Academy headquarters, waaaaaay in North Philly.  So I (say it with me) texted Becky.  I also asked the gentleman sitting beside me where exactly we were, and he said the bus went way north and named some places I'd never heard of.  He also, bless his heart, tried to help me figure out how to go south again.  He was very kind and is probably wondering right now if that poor girl from the bus ever made it home.

So I got off the bus and started walking back the way I'd come.  I tried to find 8th Street, since Becky had texted me back and said that's what I wanted to do.  I was on 5th Street when I got off the bus, and didn't know which way to go to get to 8th, so I just picked a direction and started walking.  I ended up near some street that looked like a highway, with no street signs in sight, almost cried, turned around, and started walking down 5th Street again (at least I think it was 5th.  I'm still not sure.)  All of a sudden, I saw a bus sign with a 47 on it, and I said to the gentleman standing there, "Excuse me.  If I want to take the 47 bus south..."
"This is it," he confirmed.  I noticed that this sign said 5th and Oregon, remembered Oregon was in South Philly, and was reasonably certain that I was now in the right place.

An hour later, I was home and vowing never to leave my house again.

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Speaking of my house, I would like to share a few pictures of my room:

The rug, quilt, comforter, and the fan on the wall were all Grandma's.

 



 

The papers on the wall are drawings and messages from the K-2nd graders at my home church...I used to teach them in Sunday School. :)

 

 

Pictures on my wall.

 

 

 

The scarecrow was Grandma's too.

 

 

Have a great week everyone....hopefully next time I blog, it won't be another story about me getting lost!