This weekend I managed to visit two areas of Philly I’d never experienced before; the zoo and old(e) city.

Well, I’ve been to old city, but only as a most cursory visitor.

The best part though was that I visited both as class field trips. Which means that I went to each site with a professor who is incredibly well versed in that particular area.

It was like a guided tour of the best kind.

In old city, we ended up visiting Elfreth’s Alley, the oldest residential street in America.

It’s quaint Americana at its best. The streets were cobbled and the houses crowded, but there was a calm in the air that’s very hard to capture the closer you get to downtown.

Speaking of old, the zoo was quite historic as well; it was the first zoo of the United States.

The management’s done an excellent job maintaining it though and the animals all seemed rested and happy.

The aviary was something special, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many different colors on one animal.

All in all an eventful weekend.