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© 2003, 2004
Updated 02/18/04
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10 for the Road
Philadelphia
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Welcome
to the online home of travel columnist Donald D. Groff, who has
dispensed advice  and stories since 1988 in such publications as the Philadelphia Inquirer,
the Newark Star-Ledger, The Kansas City Star, Newsday, Salon, Condé Nast Traveler, Consumer Reports
Travel Letter, The Boston Globe, and Endless Vacation magazine.
Contact
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Just back
from . . . England
St. Louis & Metropolis, Illinois
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| The St. Louis Arch -- symbolizing
the Gateway to the West -- rises 630 feet above the Mississippi
riverfront and downtown. (Photo by Carol Clark) |
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| The
western view includes the Old Courthouse, where the Dred Scott cases
were first heard. |
To the
southwest is Busch Memorial Stadium, to be demolished and replaced
by a new facility in 2006. |
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| The
narrow windows are reached by leaning -- or crawling -- on a sloped
wall covered with what resembles floor carpeting. |
The
five-person elevator pods go up in four minutes, down in three. |
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| The
line to the security checkpoint took 30 minutes to clear -- longer
than than the wait for the ascent. The
fee to ride up the Arch is
$8. |
In
fiscal year 2002, 3.3 million people visited the Jefferson
National Expansion Memorial, compared with 323,560 visitors at
the Washington Monument. |
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Metropolis,
Illinois
Leaving an Interstate 24 rest stop near the
Illinois-Kentucky border, we spotted a small sign with an
arrow labeled "giant Superman statue" and followed it to
nearby Metropolis, where indeed the Man of Steel stood tall on the
town square. The city has been promoting itself as the Home
of Superman since 1972 and hosts a big Superman festival in
June. |
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London & Rochester,
England
Photos by Donald D. Groff except as noted
Top
Charles Dickens Christmas
Festival, Rochester, England
The first weekend in December, hundreds of
costumed residents of Rochester stage a festival saluting the novelist who
lived part of his boyhood here, rued his family's move to
London, and returned for the final years of his life. Dickens used many Rochester
settings to build the scenes in his stories, including "Great
Expectations" and "Edwin Drood." |
 All
the spirits of Dickens best-known holiday story, "A Christmas
Carol," appear in the parade, including (left) those of Christmas present
and Christmas past. After the procession, the same characters wander
High Street, keeping in character to the delight of children and adults
alike.
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| A colorful procession of Dickens
characters starts at noon each day. In the moments before it rambles up
High Street, shoulder space grows tight as thousands of visitors crowd the
sidewalks.
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Photo above / Michael Arnold
A young chimney sweep leads the Pickwick
Club (above); the haughty Scrooge struts (below). |
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Church photo / Michael Arnold
Besides continuous street performances (left), festivalgoers sample
the city's other key attractions, such as its castle and cathedral
with both Norman and Gothic sections. |
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Top
Touring the festival with London
Walks |
London's best-known walking
tours are offered by London
Walks, but less known are a handful of tours called Explorer
Days, beyond London's limits. One is the Dickens Christmas Festival,
and on Dec. 7 nearly 100 people gathered at Charing Cross station where
two suitably attired guides, Alison and Simon, instructed them on buying
round-trip tickets to Rochester, accompanied them on the one-hour ride
about 30 miles southeast of London, then filled them with fact and lore as
they sketched Dickens' own path through the town. Tour cost was 10
pounds, about $17; the train ticket was also 10 pounds. |
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 Simon
(above), at the Dickens Center, pointed out landmarks from four novels.
Alison (in photos at left and below) told of the author's enduring affection for his boyhood home -- to
which he ultimately returned as a wealthy man.
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Appearances notwithstanding, the guides'
animated deliveries held the group's attention. |
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Top
Top
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Ben
Franklin, jetsetter |
| At
PHL's new international concourse we ran into Ralph Archbold, the
embodiment of Ben Franklin, about to hop a flight to Germany. When
he heard we were bound for London, he didn't miss a beat. "The only
one of my houses still standing is there," he said, noting a fund-raising
effort is under way to restore the place, at 36 Craven St. behind
Charing Cross station. Franklin dwellings in Paris |
and
Philadelphia didn't survive progress, though the memory of his
Philadelphia home, razed in 1812, is preserved at Franklin
Court.
Archbold was en route to Garmisch to speak at the Marshall Center, flying,
appropriately enough, Envoy class.
We wonder: Does he have to shed his Colonial jacket and watch fob
when going through security? |
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