Philadelphia and the Main Line

I had so much fun visiting Bryn Mawr again. It's always nice to find out that the students from your alma mater are as intelligent and motivated as you remember.

I gave a math heavy lecture on applying game theory to ecology in the morning. Given that I had only arrived the evening before and it was 6am PST (9am EST) it went rather well. Students asked good questions and there may even be one that ultimately wants to do similar research in grad school (the ultimate compliment). I then had a chance to eat lunch with some undergrads in my old dorm and talk about getting into grad school, being a female scientist and all of that fun stuff.

In the afternoon I gave a seminar on my dissertation research and nearly every one seemed to enjoy it and find it interesting. I also had an opportunity to reconnect with an old acquaintance who was the only other ecologist Bryn Mawr produced during the 90's. She is there for the year teaching classes for a faculty member on sabbatical for the year.

The next day my parents drove up from D.C. and we spent the day in Philadelphia's art museums. Here I am at the Gates of Hell at the Rodin Museum. This is a project that Rodin worked on his entire life. The only reason it looks the way it does today is because he died and wasn't able to keep working on it. His studio used to store it wrapped in wet cloth so that he could continue messing with it.

Next is my father and me inside the museum in front of the Burghers of Calais. This was a commission from Calais who expected the figures to be depicted in a very heroic manner. They were very upset when they saw the finished product as Rodin's style was to show real emotion. Each man in the piece is based on one of his friends whom he had read the story of the siege of Calais and then chose one of the men to model for Rodin.

We also made it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art right down the road but we found out that the art my father was interested in seeing again had been a temporary visiting display and the pieces were no longer there. Instead we had a nice time wandering around looking at the great impressionist collection they have there. Here I am with my mother in front of "the pond."

That evening when we got back to the hotel we alarmed to hear an employee apologizing to a guest for being unable to find a dinner reservation before 9:30 for that evening at any of the local restaurants. My dad is not a night owl and cannot handle eating late. So we went back to our rooms and I flipped through the hotel guide and started calling around. On the first try I got a reservation for 6:30 (a bit early for me but just fine for my dad) at a place called Savona. I had never heard of the place, nor had my parents. The description in their little ad looked fine though so we headed out... and hit the jackpot!!!!

This place is fantastic. If you are in the area and can afford a rather expensive meal (entrees ranged from $30-50 and there weren't many bottles of wine for under $100, although we did find one that was good), go to eat at this place. Below is the only photo I have of us there because we were too busy eating to think of photographing the food. I had a venison steak with a mushroom flan, a currant and chestnut risotto and wilted brussel sprout leaves. It was excellent. It was incredible. It tasted wonderful and interesting at the same time. And I am a bit jaded when it comes to good restaurants as I have found that many do not deserve their reputations so that is saying something. My mother had a dover sole that was perfect and felt very indulgent and my father had lobster that was good but he learned he wasn't a big fan of gnocchi that was the base for the dish. For desert we split a serving of chocolate four-ways which consisted of coconut white hot chocolate, raspberry and chocolate swirled panna cotta with raspberry foam, vanilla sugar cookie and 64Valrhona gelato sandwich and (my favorite) a dark chocolate and hazelnut creme brulee. I will dream about this food.