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| Downtown Philadelphia |
PHILADELPHIA
My 24th birthday was this past weekend and I travelled down to Philadelphia for a 3 day trip during my university's February break. I usually luck out with the timing of my birthday as it's close to President's Day and a rarely have school. Due to my team's first place win in the Better Philadelphia Challenge Design Competition, we were offered an expenses paid trip for the award ceremony. This is my second birthday in Philadelphia as my team from the 2014 competition also received special recognition. Also, we met up with a reporter from Next City, so keep an eye out for our project!
Anyways, we spent 3 weekdays down in Philly exploring the city and accepting our award. I'm not from the East Coast, but often feel like the city gets an undeserved bad reputation when compared to other major metros. It definitely has a more working class culture, but that is one of the things I appreciate the most. As the first capital of the US and birthplace of the country, there are plenty of historical and cultural offerings that make Philadelphia worth a visit. It was an exceptionally cold weekend and the temperatures hovered around 30 F. It also snowed while we were in the city, which was interesting to see.
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| La Reserve B&B: Rittenhouse Square |
We stayed just south of Rittenhouse Square at a Bed & Breakfast called La Reserve. It was a great experience and I highly recommend the place. The location was ideal for exploring and the price was extremely reasonable given the size of the rooms. Moving on to our travels...
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| Independence Hall |
Most of the people in my group had never visited the city, so we stopped by the major attractions. In my opinion, the most importance sites of Philadelphia can be seen in 2 or 3 days. Many of the main tourist attractions are near Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were drafted. It is across the street from the famous Liberty Bell site. Both attractions are free and require very little wait time in the winter. I did travel to Philly over the summer and the lines were significant. You queue outside for the Liberty Bell in the sun, with little relief from the heat. Independence Hall requires you to schedule a tour time (still free). We put our names into the system and got a tour for 3 hours later. Also, they screen you before you go inside.
Since you are in the area, I recommend heading over to Sonny's Famous Steaks for a famous Philadelphia cheesesteak. This is the most famous food from the area and Sonny's has a reliable standard cheesesteak, "The Classic" with Cheez Wiz. Warning: this is pretty unhealthy and not the most appetizing food. It's a short walk from Independence Hall, so try to stop by. We also wandered into (by wander, I mean yelp) a coffee shop since it was freezing outside. The #1 café in the city on yelp is Menagerie Coffee, which is also in the Old City. Reviews recommend the ice (drip) coffee, but we had solid lattes and hot brews.
After that we ventured to the waterfront at Penn's Landing. The area is somewhat disconnected from the Old City due to a large interstate, but I recommend traveling down to the Delaware River. There are some historic ships and it's an easy walk.
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| Elfreth's Alley Selfie |
On the way back to the car (near Independence Hall), we stopped by the historic Christ Church, where many of America's founding fathers attended services. You can sit in George Washington and Benjamin Franklin's booths. Down the street is Elfreth's Alley, the oldest continuously inhabited street in the United States. It is a very beautiful, narrow alley with a museum. The neighborhood surrounding Elfreth appears to be an art's district with many design and boutique stores. It looked interesting,but many were closed by the time we arrived. Closer to the Independence Mall is Benjamin Franklin's grade, where many people leave a penny coin (Franklin: "A penny saved is a penny earned"). The area also features the National Constitution Center and U.S. Mint, but we didn't have time for a visit.
For my birthday dinner, we walked to Chinatown (also very close) for a Malaysian/Chinese dinner. I'm a big fan of Malaysian food as it's extremely filling and a good mix between two of my favorite cuisines: Indian and Chinese. The restaurant Banana Leaf did not disappoint, although some of there dishes were different than I remembered. Nonetheless, really good. We had already picked up my birthday cake in the morning from Stock's Bakery in Kensington. There pound cake is delicious and everything is very affordable. It's in a very residential area and you know that only locals go there. Doughnuts are 45 cents!
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| LOVE Sign: Way too small!!! |
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| City Hall: Go in the central courtyard! |
After buying a few things and visiting many shops, we left for Center City Philadelphia. The city is centered around City Hall, which is the largest/tallest masonry building in the world. To clarify, this means it is the largest masonry (brick) building with a structural system entirely of brick. It's a beautiful building and I recommend venturing inside the central courtyard.
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| Reading Terminal Market |
Further down Market Street is the Reading Terminal Market. This lunchtime favorite has a huge selection of delicious foods in a building named for the famous Reading Railroad (Monopoly). We had lunch at DiNic's Pork & Beef, which was AMAZING. I highly recommend the meatball sub (add provolone) as they were literally the best meatballs I have ever had! We tried three different sandwiches (beef, pork, meatball) and the meatball was by far the best.
Following our lunch, we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the competition's award ceremony. I was giving a speech and needed to actually write one (ironically I didn't follow the script at all). The ceremony and reception were fun and we headed back to school soon after it was finished. Overall, the trip to Philly was a very fun and delicious 3 day getaway from school. Check out my recommendations below:
Attractions:
- Liberty Bell
- Independence Hall
- Elfreth's Alley
- UPenn
- Italian Market
- Christ Church
- Reading Terminal Market
- Penn's Landing
- City Hall
- LOVE Sign
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Food:
- Banana Leaf (Malaysian)
- DiNics (lunch, sandwiches, MEATBALLS)
- Sonny's Famous Steaks (Philly cheesesteak)
- Stock's Bakery (desert, cakes, doughnuts)
- Di Bruno Bros (cheese, italian snacks)
- Sabrina's Cafe (brunch & breakfast)
- Menagerie Coffee (coffee & tea)
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