April 28 & 29, Days 5 & 6 — Old Philadelphia to Germantown

All You Need Is Love

Serendipity and love are the day’s themes. I meet Judy, friend Anny, and cousin Nate at Market East to walk today’s segment. Passing Love Park, we pause for a photo by the fountain, then head to Boat House Row where we run into the Shipley crew team. What a surprise, having just seen the same students two days earlier in Bryn Mawr. They don’t recognize me, not because I look particularly disheveled or road worn, but because they just aren’t expecting to see me again. Their warm smiles rekindle the love I felt on Thursday at Shipley. The city is out enjoying Kelly Drive and the river, and so are we as we converse in pairs, as a foursome, and then switch off to a new walking partner, almost like a dance. Conversation flows from the mundane to the profound. It’s a good thing that we pass up the hotdogs on sale under a tent near the waterfront, because Judy spots a sandwich board advertising the Trolley Car Café. “Let’s eat lunch there.” Instant consensus. The quaint brick building just off Kelly Drive is packed, so we find a seat on the outdoor patio, reminiscent of so many stops on the Camino in Spain: balmy weather, no agenda, great company, a welcome chance to sit down and rest the feet. We watch the owner plant pepper starts in an outdoor garden bed right off the patio, and then notice solar hot water panels line the roof of the café. How have we managed to find a sustainability haven for lunch? We end up conversing with the owner – clearly a kindred spirit – and Judy begins to tell him about the pilgrimage. Turns out he knows Uncle Chris, Aunt Helen, and the Paulmiers, who will host Judy and me tonight, his kids go to Germantown Friends School, and he is best friends with Judy’s second cousin, Michael Beer. Coincidence? Design? Serendipity? On the Camino, everything always seems to tie together. We have a great dinner at the Baynton Street B&B and the next morning attend meeting for worship at Germantown Meeting  – a needed Sabbath for this pilgrim.  (Saturday: 11.4 miles; total to date 64 miles)