Downtown Philadelphia-Near Reading Terminal Market

I observed this public area near the famous Reading Terminal Market in downtown Philadelphia.  The columns appear to take inspiration from Roman architecture.  Notice the large sphere in the middle of the area.

City of Philadelphia downtown area is busy and lively during daylight hours.  However, after work hours, the area become quickly deserted and if you are a pedestrian, you begin to feel unsafe.  You will run into groups of people at street corners, people with unstable gait and you will probably prefer to stay away from them.  Traffic is heavy and visitors to the City of Brotherly Love will have to adapt to the local motorists not yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk.  Visitors will also observe several younger and formally dressed men and women smoking.  Finding street parking is difficult.  Paid parking is not inexpensive.  It costs approximately $28/day for valet parking near the Philadelphia Convention Center.  Navigating through the downtown area is not difficult, the streets are parallel.  Overall, the downtown Philadelphia is impressive.

I wanted to see the Liberty Bell but could not.

Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have similar features.  Philadelphia is located at the confluence of two rivers, Pittsburgh at the confluence of three.  Both cities have impressive downtowns.