melted_snowball and I will be in Philadelphia this weekend (Friday through Sunday). We're staying
downtown, very close to City Hall.
I'm free on my own for Saturday during the day and probably Sunday afternoon till 5pm or so.
What kind of half-day adventure would you have me go on? I like getting lost, trying new stuff, seeing art and found stuff that I might photograph.
boutell, I'm looking right at you here. :)
I'm more into the idea of walking tours than museums, on this trip. I looked in the
philadelphia community and did get the impression that if I ate mammal, I'd be set for cheesesteaks. I've already done all the Liberty Bell / patriot tour stuff I care to- but I was thinking
these architecture tours might be interesting.
I've already got
sulle_stelle's recommendation for dinner at "Nineteen". And I know that
First Friday is happening in 40 galleries in the downtown core in the evening- thanks
boutell.
LJ is awesome for this kinda stuff- any other suggestions?
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Date: Wednesday, 5 September 2007 10:41 pm (UTC)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCtter_Museum
http://www.collphyphil.org/mutter.asp
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Date: Wednesday, 5 September 2007 10:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 03:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 01:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 03:16 am (UTC)A few good ideas there, including the Rosenbach Museum & Library with ephemera from Charles Dodgson and James Joyce... and the Mutter Museum. Maybe I will go museuming after all.
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Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 03:48 am (UTC)Walk south from there (say, look up the morning glory cafe and walk in its general direction, for instance, that's what we were doing when we saw a lot of this) and you'll find a bunch of neat looking to me row houses and some alleys with very cool glass mosaics set into houses. (see my icon for an example.) the morning glory cafe was quite nice for brunch, too. :)
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Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 11:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 02:53 pm (UTC)A side-note to be sure, but: my list of nice-to-haves is prolly too demanding for current technology/what I'm willing to pay: less than $400, compact, but good sensitivity and readable screen; good data for Canada and US, on-road and off-road; works with mac; doesn't devour batteries; expandable data, but doesn't require a subscription or cell data-plan. :)
The closest I've found is a screenless device that works with a cellphone such as mine via bluetooth, but the phone software for this device apparently needs to pull down all the map data from their servers. That's gonna be way too pricey at 5c a kilobyte.
I think I'm holding off for the same device where I can stash a gig of data (or much less) on my phone's microSD card. I'm patient, and expect I won't have to wait more than another year. :)
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Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 03:24 pm (UTC)Which Garmin do you use in your car? I'll look it up. :)
Thanks. :)
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Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 03:40 pm (UTC)We use a Nuvi 350, which is this one here for the car. For geocaching, we more often use and original eTrex that we also have.
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Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 06:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 06:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 02:56 pm (UTC)Reading Terminal Market (http://www.readingterminalmarket.org/) is a great place for eats. My two favorites were the Greek place near the 12th Street entrance, and the Thai place closer to 11th Street. Oh, and cream cheese brownies for dessert, from Metropolitan Bakery (Arch Street side).
Places we wish we'd gone while we lived there:
* The African American Museum in Philadelphia, at 7th & Arch. http://www.aampmuseum.org/home/
* The National Constitution Center, 5th & Arch. http://www.constitutioncenter.org/
There's a historic Friends Meetinghouse at 4th & Arch.
And, of course, we *highly* recommend going to Meeting for Worship at the Meetinghouse at 15th & Cherry at 11:00 am. :)
Excellent (IMHO) half-day adventure; will require getting on SEPTA: Mt. Airy.
* Wissahickon Park (map at http://www.fow.org/).
* Big Blue Marble Bookstore (a Best of Philly!), http://www.bigbluemarblebooks.com/ (plus, two of my best friends work there, Nif and Jen)
* Weavers Way Co-Op, http://weaversway.coop/
But, best of all, you are going to be in Philly during the Fringe Festival! http://www.livearts-fringe.org/2007/home.cfm.
Have fun! I look forward to finding out how you amused yourself. :)
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Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 03:27 pm (UTC)My unplanned ventures have resulted in many conversations with beggars and other marginalized people, good food from places that aren't on any tourist map, at least two carousel rides, finding myself both donor and recipient of the kindness of strangers, sore feet, multiple encounters with people quietly practicing martial arts in parks, occasional concern about how to get back to somewhere I know where I am, wonder, and joy.
There used to be a really sweet man among the homeless folks near Reading Terminal Market. If I've got the right city, there's a Holocaust museum that's quite thought-provoking around somewhere.
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Date: Thursday, 6 September 2007 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, 7 September 2007 01:01 am (UTC)The Philadelphia Museum of Art is amazing. And so is the Rodin Museum. Is the Tut exhibit still in town? There is also the Penn Museum. The Italian Market is fun on Saturday mornings (though I haven't been in a few years). And I concur re: Reading Terminal (also fun on Saturday mornings).
For the BEST gelato EVER (better than any I've had in Italy and I've lived in Italy and know my gelato): Capogiro (13th/Sansom). I think that is a "must see" for d. A favorite BYO restaurant: Effie's, on Pine St, between 11th and 12th (few doors down from Giovanni's Room -- go support your local gay bookstore!) There is a nice gay coffeeshop a couple blocks from there, on 12th, between Locust and Walnut (new, used to be Millennium Coffee, forget what it's called now, but it has free wifi and outdoor seating). Sit there and look across the street fondly at the building I used to live in......
Another good coffee spot: Hausbrandt Coffee (15th, just south of Walnut). This is an Italian chain (first US branch). Lots of Italians there. And really good coffee. Try the chocolate croissant; you will die. More free wifi.
I will be in town the week after you (darn!) and, yes, will be eating at Nineteen. The food is good (not outstanding, but very nice) but the decor is REALLY memorable.
Have fun and tell me how it goes!
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Date: Friday, 7 September 2007 12:53 pm (UTC)Yeah! :)
Thanks for the thoughts- I didn't catch the coffeeshop we had breakfast in but it was a yummy croissant.
Too bad we're missing you here- darn indeed. Conference?
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Date: Saturday, 8 September 2007 03:46 am (UTC)I'm going up there to visit friends; found a $120 r/t airfare. Just last week, I booked another trip up there, about two weeks later (10/4 or something), for a friend's surprise 50th b-day party. (Needless to say, she doesn't know I'm coming. I can't wait!)