One of the things we love about where we live is that our apartment is just a few blocks away from the Schuylkill River. When we worked together at Drexel University, we really enjoyed crossing the river on the way to work, at least in the nice weather. But we also occasionally take walks along the Schuylkill Banks which provides a pleasant walking trail along the river.
During our 6+ years here, the Schuylkill Banks Development Corporation (SRDC) has made many improvements to the trail, the most notable of which was the addition of the Schuylkill Boardwalk. Train lines also run along the river making a continuous path difficult. The SRDC solved this issue by creating a boardwalk above a section of the river which connects Locust Street to South Street, a stretch of about 3 blocks.
More recently, the SRDC opened a section of trail between South Street and Christian Street, approximately another four blocks in length. Shortly after we returned from our Washington DC trip, Holly and I took a walk along the South Street Bridge and along the new section of trail. Although it’s only another four blocks, we are pretty excited about it since it is close to where we live and also will eventually lead to more new sections, including a pedestrian bridge that will connect the east side of the river with the west.
Last fall, during our Staycation, we had taken a boat tour across the river to Bartram’s Garden, which was, fun, insightful, and picturesque. We love the thought that one day we will be able to walk across the river to get there.
When we took our recent walk to the new South-to-Christian section, I brought my Canon Rebel EOS 2000 along. I still had some photos left from the Ilford HP Plus 400 black and white roll I had used for my Library of Congress pictures.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia recently built the Roberts Center for Pediatric Research, near the South Street Bridge, which has become an excellent subject for photography. I really like how my pictures of it turned out on this shoot. And pictures of the Philadelphia skyline from the South Street Bridge are reliably picturesque.
Spring has been slow to arrive this year, but I’m looking forward to a day when we can take another long walk along the trail that incorporates this new addition.
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