Regarding the city's grooming, Horst Heitmann, a representative of the German air force, has been of both minds. On this, his third trip to the city, he wanted to show his friend Ulla Eisenmenger "the beauty side of Philadelphia."
"Last year, I was driving up the Route One and it was not so beautiful. I closed the windows and locked the door," he said, then softened the criticism. "But you can find these kinds of places everywhere."
He likes the food here well enough.
"But I prefer German schnitzel."
Helen and Brooks Bailey, retired print-shop owners from Gainesville, Fla., took their 13-year-old grandson, Cortland, to see the essential Philadelphia.
They missed the proselytizers across from City Hall, the jaded art students smoking cigarettes on Chestnut Street, and the existentialist scene on 12th where someone had left a copy of the "Queer in Philly" guide, along with a banana peel and a pair of neatly folded pants on a café table.
Nearby, a demented guy in a hard hat was venting to a patient young man with a backpack.
"Thanks for listening," the guy said. "I just had to get that off my chest."
"Sure," said the young man. "Take care of yourself."
That aspect of the city would pass unnoticed as the Baileys and their grandson made their appointed rounds.
What they did see, however, was just as real.
The Bell. The Hall. The wacky quacks. The venerated remnants of history.
"You can't come away from here," Bailey said, "without a tremendous amount of pride for what went before you."
That's one perspective, anyway.
For a complete guide to holiday events, including local fireworks, visit http://go.philly.
com/fourth
