What to do in Philly?

[JackieO]

I'll be in Philadelphia in two weeks for a convention. Never been there. And I hear they have a baseball team?? :D

Seriously, I will have all day Sunday, the 21st to myself during the day, and free time periodically during the next two week days. I'm staying at the downtown Marriott.

What should I see/do? Where should I eat? Sunday night dine-around is at Ted's Montana Grill (or whatever Ted Turner's place is called.)

[whocares]

A few years ago, I was in Philadelphia to look at colleges with my daughter and we wandered around a bit. Maybe too much, since we only visited one school. The Philadelphia Museum of Art ( http://www.philamuseum.org/visit/ ) is splendid and we spent a lot of time there. There is currently a special of exhibit of Renoir landscapes that looks lovely. We also walked through Independence National Park ( http://www.philamuseum.org/visit/ ) and found it to be a pretty neat experience. Philadelphia was a very pleasant city to visit and I hope to go back and see a bit more. Enjoy your trip.

[615bride]

DH and I were there in May to see King Tut and had a delicious meal at Alma de Cuba. (http://www.almadecubarestaurant.com) The Rodin Museum is there, I love the Franklin Institute (but then I taught elementary science) and there is a Lush and an Anthropologie so I always hit those!

[linsleyd]

615Bride, how did you like the King Tut exhibit? We went two weeks ago and that was my first time at the Franklin Institute.

The city is a great city to just walk around in, just not at night. :D I'm sorry your dinner is at Ted's. Not that it's bad, it's actually quite good but in a city with such wonderful restaurants, phooey!:p

Check out Independence Park if that interests you, it's a neat experience!

Reading Terminal Market www.readingterminalmarket.org is a must for all foodies!

The museam and surrounding area is beautiful even to just walk around...

I'll try to think of some other things - I used to work in the city.....

[kimmer99]

I believe the Marriot is right by the Reading Terminal Market. Philly also has a good zoo if that's your thing - and in addition to normal mass transit, you can also use the Philly Phlash (http://www.gophila.com/C/Tours_and_Transportation/401/U/Phlash/1303.html) to ride around and see the sites. I think that too stops right outside the Marriot.

BTW, if you like gelato, we had some of the best stuff on this side of the Atlantic at Capo Giro (http://capogirogelato.com/).

Lastly, you might want to check out this travel guide written by a friend of mine who lives in Philly: Out and About in Philadelphia (http://www.slowtrav.com/usa/pennsylvania/philadelphia_travel_guide.htm)

[Terri_A]

I think Little Italy in Philly is worth a trip all by itself! I haven't been there in years, but I always adored going there as a kid and as an adult.

[BucknellAlum]

I think Little Italy in Philly is worth a trip all by itself! I haven't been there in years, but I always adored going there as a kid and as an adult.

I agree - but if you are trying to find out info on the "Little Italy" section of Philly, look for "South Philly" or the "Italian Market" on 9th st.

There have been some other threads on what to do in Philly, I think around March of this year.

My recs:
Independence Hall/Liberty Bell - you can't get closer to history!
Constitution Center
Ben Franklin's house - these are all doable on the same day

Art Museum
Rittenhouse Square/Walnut St for shopping and people watching
Italian Market or Reading Terminal Market - for the foodie in you

Kelly Drive/Boathouse Row - if you like to run/rollerblade/walk along the river and watch the rowers

Where to eat? What do you like? There is Bliss, Susanna Foo's, Striped Bass all of which are pricey but good. If you are looking for a particular price range or ethnic, please post it and that will help narrow things down.

Enjoy the city!

[linsleyd]

I forgot about South Street and the Italian Market.
South Street is fun for people watching and eclectic stores. Also one of the best cheesesteaks in the city at Jim's.

You MUST go to DiBruno Brothers!
It's near Rittenhouse Square so you can hit double duty there! 1730 Chestnut Street www.dibruno.com

[Davey]

Yes, definitely check out South Street, the Museums, they have the phillies for baseball, the eagles for football, all performing now.

I would also recommend checking out a restaurant named "The Philadelphia Fish Co."

[hlao23]

The Mutter Museum is "disturbingly informative" http://www.collphyphil.org/mutter_hist.htm

It was pretty cool.

[JackieO]

Thanks for all the great ideas! The Philly blog was most helpful. I ran over to our local AAA office after work today to pick up a Pennsylvania guide book and a Philly map. My downtown location looks to be within walkable distance of a great many interesting sites and places to visit.

General question: how safe is it to be walking downtown at night? Are weekends different from week days??

I'll be on my own Friday night since my pre-conference seminar doesn't start until Saturday. Where would you recommend going as a solo female diner on a weekend night? I'm pretty open when it comes to food (not so crazy about eating Chinese in restaurants, though). Something fresh and light and casual would be appealing.

I'm sure I'll find some folks to go out with on Saturday after the seminar, and Sunday night is the exhibitors reception with cocktail-type food. Ted's is Monday night, and by Tuesday, I may be too stuffed to do much of anything! ;)

Have to figure out when I'm going to Jim's for that Philly cheese steak, though.

[aggie94]

Yes, the Marriott is right by Reading Terminal Market. We made many trips there during our visit in March. :)

We had the best meal of our lives in Philly. I posted about it here. (http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?t=103776&highlight=meal)

[bekki]

We were just in Philly a few weekends ago to visit my cousin who attends the U of Penn.

We had amazing food there. The Reading Terminal Market is just fabulous. The DiNic's Roast pork sandwich w/ provolne and broccoli rabe is quite honestly one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life. The bread is amazing, the provolone is sharp and the rabe is garlicky and sweet. OMG, I dream about them :)

We also had dinner at what I now consider one of my top 3 restaurants I have ever eaten at, Amada. It's spanish tapas and we took the afore mentioned cousin, as well as two other college aged girls, and just had a great meal. I highly recommend the beef flatbread and the crab stuffed picillo (sp?) peppers. The atmosphere is perfect for a single diner.

We also had a good meal at Jack's Firehouse, but I'm not sure how it would be for a solo diner.

We stayed at the Westin, and walked EVERYWHERE. We never really felt unsafe (although there were two of us, myself and my DH), but cabs were plentiful and not too expensive.

[GingerPow]

Another vote for a Reading Terminal visit! Especially since your hotel is so close to it - you can easily haul your goodies back to your room.

So many great restaurants in Philly - The Continental is a favorite of ours, really any of the Starr restaurants are terrific.
http://www.starr-restaurant.com/

For a true classic Philly local favorite, try the Sansom Street Oyster House. Another favorite of ours. http://www.philadelphiarestaurants.com/restaurant.cfm/restaurant/281/SansomStreetOysterHouse

You already have many of the recommendations I would have shared and mentioned on the websites listed; Franklin Institute, Art Museum, Independence Hall http://www.independencevisitorcenter.com/Default.htm, Mutter Museum. Also check out the Rodin Museum. http://www.rodinmuseum.org/

Since you'll be here close to Halloween, visit the Eastern State Penitentiary, which is near the Art Museum. You can take a daytime tour, but if you're especially brave, take the nighttime Halloween Tour. :eek: http://www.easternstate.org/halloween/

If you have time, enjoy a concert at the beautiful Kimmel Center. The acoustics are incredible. http://www.kimmelcenter.org/

Our DD lives in Philly, we have several friends who live in the heart of the city, we go into the city at least once a month, and we feel safe. Like any city, there are places to go and places to stay away from. You'll be fine in Center City.

Enjoy your visit - Philly is terrific!

[JackieO]

Bumping this back up -- I leave tomorrow morning. Should be at my hotel by about 3:30 or so, so I'll have some time to sight-see. I didn't realize my conference starts at NOON on Sunday (with Mia Farrow as the keynote speaker!). I definitely want to run to the art museum to run up the steps a la Rocky Balboa! :D Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't rain.

[linsleyd]

Jackie, it's raining today but it's supposed to clear up by nightfall and tomorrow is going to be beautiful and about 77 degrees.

Enjoy your time and that's cool that you get to see Mia Farrow!

[Debralynn]

The King Tut exhibit has left Philly.

[JackieO]

I had a great time -- weather was awesome, conference was good (although I think most of the 35+ crowd left feeling disconcerted -- our PR world has changed so much and many of us feel left behind!)

I wasn't all that social, and since I was on my own Friday afternoon, I had a Philly cheesesteak from Rick's at Reading Terminal to get that out of the way! ;) Then I took myself on a walking tour of Independence Park/Elfreth's Alley/Betsy Ross House -- all that stuff on Friday afternoon in the heat and humidity. My jeans were left standing in the corner of my hotel room for the remainder of the trip! :eek: Gross!

My Saturday seminar was mind-splitting by the end, and frankly, I didn't feel that great, so I ordered room service. (Food at the Marriott downtown was pretty good. Had crab cakes -- yum.)

Sunday I had planned to run/jog to the art museum (scouted out the location on Friday -- could see it from a plaza on Ben Franklin Parkway). But by the time I got up and turned the news on, I discovered there were 10,000 walkers down there for the AIDS walk! :cool: If I had known that in ADVANCE, I would have signed up and brought home a t-shirt. As it was, I decided to lounge in my room reading before I had lunch at a deli at the market.

Mia Farrow was the keynote speaker kicking off the conference...she is an eloquent advocate for those without a voice in Darfur. Two breakout sessions were followed by a reception in the exhibitors hall, then we went to the National Constitution Center for a "taste of Philly" event.

Tim Russert was the keynote speaker Monday morning. Awesome. He is a most genuine individual and quite a gifted speaker/philospher/analyst. Funny, too.

Monday night was spent at Ted's Montana Bar & Grill -- had cedar planked salmon, garlic mashed & green beans. The company at dinner (independent PR practitioners) was better than the food.

I was conventioned out by last night -- did a little more walking around, including Penn's Landing & South St. area, but just grabbed a salad to take to my room (the luncheon at the Marriott was Chilean Sea Bass over Israeli couscous with wilted spinach -- how they could turn out 3,000 lunches that spectacular is beyond me!)

I took full advantage of the Reading Terminal and the 7-11 across the street to get fresh fruit/juice/small bags of nuts, etc., to offset the calorie-density of the conference offerings. Tomorrow's WW weigh-in will tell whether I was successful at making good choices! I was able to walk quite a bit, so I'm hoping my portion-control discipline and fresh choices worked in my favor.

Oh, and I did walk over to DiBruno Bros. several times, although I didn't buy anything (sampled cheese, though!). What I wouldn't give to have a resource like that....