Philadelphia

Since graduating from high school 13 years ago, I have moved A LOT. More than should be considered normal. Which has given me the opportunity to live in four cities up and down the east coast: Philadelphia, New York, D.C., and Baltimore. This post is the beginning of a series about being a tourist in your own city, starting from my college days in Philly (and some other post college time I spent in Philly) and moving chronologically through the cities to New York, D.C., and finally Baltimore. I might even throw in a post about my semester abroad in Sydney if you’re lucky. And let me know if you feel like writing! I’m definitely open to some guest bloggers to expand this series (like if you lived in Greensboro, or London, for example).

So let’s get started.

Philadelphia may be my favorite city that I ever lived in, but I recognize that this opinion could be skewed by the fact that I was in college. However, I’ve been there a ton since graduating, and I still love Philly for so many reasons. It’s walkable, it’s drivable, the food is incredible, and there is just so much to do.

My favorite thing to do when I lived in Philly was to just walk. I lived on 40th street, and whenever there was a nice day we would walk all the way down to Front street by the water (the equivalent of first street, if you’re counting). Along the way we would pass so much.

First, there’s Penn’s campus. Many people may not agree with me, but I think this happy place is definitely (or definitely should be) a major tourist attraction. What appealed to me most about going to Penn was that they have a campus inside a city. It’s hard to find city schools like this, and it’s beautiful. Just walk down Locust walk and really take in the beauty of your surroundings, and all of the constant college activity, while realizing the access to the major city just a block away.

Keep walking. You’ll end up at Franklin Field, Penn’s football stadium. Take a look – apparently there’s some history attached to this place. I don’t do sports or history but that’s what people tell me.

Next, if you keep walking over the bridge, you’ll find yourself in Rittenhouse Square. This is arguably the nicest part of the city with restaurants, shops, and some of the most expensive apartments. It’s a great place to just relax and have some food and/or drinks outside (like Oprah’s favorite burger at Rouge), or read a book in the park. Sometimes, you’ll also find a Farmer’s Market, and if you’re lucky some free samples.

As you continue to stroll, you’ll find yourself in Center City. More great restaurants and shopping, and also a great place to live that’s a little cheaper than Rittenhouse. You’ll soon hit Broad street, where you get a great view of city hall. Stop for a picture, especially at night when the streets are all lit up!

This was the night that I was Marissa’s formal date, and Tom was my date to Marissa’s formal, and they wouldn’t let me drink because my ID that said I was 23 (which I was) was not considered valid because I was from New York.

On the other side of Broad street, you enter the Gayborhood. All of the street signs have rainbows, and there’s a collection of gay bars that were really fun in college. It would probably be WAY too much party for my current suburban mom self. Okay fine, it was way too much party for me then too but I did it a few times because my friends somehow convinced me that my bedtime was not important.

Within the Gayborhood are the restaurants on 13th street. I don’t know why, but for some reason there are so many great ones just on this street. Take a walk down there and just eat.

As you continue walking, you’ll approach Washington Square and Old City. This is another lovely place to sit outside and relax, and it’s also surrounded by MORE great restaurants.

This is also where the history is – the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross House, The African American History Museum, and the Jewish History Museum. (There’s actually a ton of museums in this area, these are just the ones I visited.) You can ride a horse drawn carriage around the block, and walk the old cobblestone streets. And make sure you stop for dessert at Franklin Fountain for a real old school Ice Cream parlour.

Now let’s say instead of crossing Broad street and heading into the Gayborhood and Old City, you walked a little North. Here, you can walk through City Hall and then head East to grab some snacks at Reading Terminal. Or, if you’re not hungry, just stroll through to see everything they have to offer (spoiler: it’s everything). If you keep walking East from here, you’ll also get to explore a little bit of Chinatown. Finally, you’ll hit Franklin Square where you’ll find a Carousel, some mini golf, a beautiful fountain, a playground, and some shakes and burgers. You can really spend a lot of time here.

Or maybe you decide that instead of going North, or East, you want to go South for a few blocks until you hit South Street. Walk down South street and take it in. It is a whole different Philadelphia. Instead of the parks, and restaurants, office and apartment buildings, and chain clothing stores, you’ll find boutiques, bars, and ethnically diverse restaurants, all independently owned. You might even find some tattoo parlours or sex shops, and this is definitely the spot to find a Halloween store. And a trip down South Street would not be complete without a visit to Jim’s, one of my two favorite Cheesesteak spots in all of Philadelphia. (The other is Phil’s, and you should definitely go there because it’s awesome, but not really walkable so it doesn’t really fit nicely into this post.)

P1020140 — Ok not Jim’s, not on South Street, but I had this picture from Phil’s.

I’m sorry I didn’t write about the art museum. I’m not an art museum person, but if you are, go check it out and get your picture of yourself on the Rocky steps.

This is legitimately the only picture I could find of the Philadelphia Art Museum, and it’s from our half marathon.

This post was not about food, but if you read my post about traveling for food you would know that food is always on my mind wherever I am. I could go on for days about the food in this city as it really is some of my favorite, but at a certain point blog posts get too long and people (usually me) stop reading. However, there are a few things worth noting.

The cheesesteaks: Jim’s and Phil’s are my two favorites. Also worth a try for something a little different: John’s Roast Pork (for a roast pork sandwich or a cheesesteak). Pat’s and Geno’s are the two that people will send you to if you are a first timer. Ignore them – these are major tourist traps. The meat is piled high and cold, and they send you to the back of the line if you don’t order properly. And the line is LONG. Trust me on this, they are not worth your time.

OK so yes I just told you not to eat at Pat’s or Geno’s, and yes, here I am eating at Pat’s with a view of Geno’s in the background. But this was Feb Club, so I didn’t have a choice. We are pretending to enjoy this sandwich for the picture.

The BYOs: Philly is a city filled with BYOs. Find them and eat at them. The food is great, the wine is however great you want it to be, and the price is usually right. I can’t name them all – text or email me for specific advice on this.

We brought that wine with us, so it was cheaper than it would’ve been if we bought it at the restaurant.

The restaurant groups: Stephen Starr, Jose Garces, and Marc Vetri basically own this city. Starr has 20 restaurants in Philadelphia, and he continues to grow. Garces has 8, and while smaller than Starr, his food is better. It is my goal to one day eat at all 28 of these places. And Vetri is the best of them all – I have eaten at most of his restaurants and it’s truly some of the best food I’ve ever had.