Philadelphia, USA (PHL)

...many public pay phones in Philadelphia, but the ones at the bus depot always work and there are enough to use.

I was staying with someone when I arrived at Philadelphia and I figured I would walk a few blocks and find a phone and then call for a lift. I wanted to walk the few blocks so that I could see some of the city. Well, I walked for blocks and blocks and blocks before I came to one public phone and then I found it was a broken ...
...located at 660 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19106


THE MARKET STREET AREA

Has some quaint shops including a beautiful ‘chocolate’ or sweets shop. I got there too late so I didn’t’ get to sample their wares. BUT, the windows were decorated so beautifully, they just made your mouth water. It wasn’t even dark yet and the stores were closing-at least the chocolate shop.

The Market Street area ... more

Philadelphia is like a little New York

Ahhhh to see New York without the crowds. This is the challenge.

I love Philadelphia.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BEST TIME TO VISIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ve found that the best time to visit Philadelphia is on Memorial Day [May 31 of every year].

Philadelphia celebrates Memorial Day in a big way, yet there are no major crowds. [Guess everyone hasn’t found out about this yet].

We went to the celebration by accident. We had just come to see parts of Philadelphia in general and wanted to see the LIBERTY BELL.

And right across from there, all of a sudden, there was an assembly of people who were dressed like colonial men and women. And, there were men who were uniformed with the rifles and all.

The women’s skirt hoops were so big you could hide a large microwave under them. The costumes were exquisite, quite interesting. Then there was the reading of some history
And some music really added to this historic celebration.

We had just come from seeing the Liberty Bell. [I was quite surprised because I had always seen pictures of the bell & in my mind I had pictured this ENORMOUS bell. The bell turned out to be much smaller than I expected. ]

The bell is house in its own Lucite-look building. So outside you can see the bell even before you go into the building. People are always walking around the bell observing it, and even though there’s someone always observing, still, the crowd is bearable and quite small for such a famous historic bell.

There is a great visitors center , so be sure and check this building out.

************STREETS AND SHOPS**********

We walked along some of the streets, small streets small sidewalks, very quaint-looking.
I felt like I had gone into a time capsule and come out of it hundreds of years earlier. The feeling was nice, different.

The post office was a tiny place. And along the streets were other little shops, typical ones you would see on any American street.

The roads in some places were the old-fashioned cobblestone ones that you see in history books. This was a nice added touch and gives our pictures a nice look.

************TRAVEL?**************

Philadelphia is accessed by bus –Greyhound or other lines, and also by Amtrak. You can get there by car of course. It’s a short ride from New York.
AND, the good news is this

There’s plenty of free or metered parking in Philadelphia. There’s a shopping mall not far from the historic district.

And in the bus depot, there are machines for pop /sodas and some snacks while you are waiting.

***********NOTE ABOUT PHONES************

If you travel to Philadelphia by bus, be sure and use the pay public phones if you need to contact someone for a lift to your final destination [if you are staying with friends there and they need to pick you up at the station]. It seems that there are not many public pay phones in Philadelphia, but the ones at the bus depot always work and there are enough to use.

I was staying with someone when I arrived at Philadelphia and I figured I would walk a few blocks and find a phone and then call for a lift. I wanted to walk the few blocks so that I could see some of the city. Well, I walked for blocks and blocks and blocks before I came to one public phone and then I found it was a broken phone. So bring your cellular phone or use the pay phones at the bus station to make all your calls.
[I made a few trips to Philadelphia - a number of trips by bus and one or two trips by automobile].

Their regular metro busses are quite cute. And, they take dollar bills so that is handy.

*****************Would I visit again? *********

Surely would. It was a nice trip. There are lots to see there and it’s a nice uncrowded safe city. Even at it’s most crowded blocks it was still quite comfortable.

On my next visit I surely would bring my cellular phone with me. And I would go by car since there is so much parking available there.

*******************FOOD *********************

We ate at a lovely restaurant...which featured the cartoon characters of the Three Stooges.
This restaurant claimed this was Mo’s ‘home town’. There wasn’t much of a wait at the restaurant. The servers were very polite and very professional, [something that I didn’t expect since their ‘uniforms’ were black t shirts with pictures of Mo on them.
This was a very nice restaurant with reasonable prices and I would visit there again. I must be honest and silly, I have no clue what the name of the restaurant was, but I’m sure it’s online here somewhere. There are a few landmarks or things to commemorate the Three Stooges in Philadelphia because seems one of them was born here in Pennsylvania.

Along the same route there was a nice Pizza store also, all the comforts of home.

Seems there were a couple of Pizza stores that I passed by, some in one neighborhood and some in another.

*********SPECIAL WEEK JAN 23-JAN 28 2005

IF you are a food lover, the best time for you to visit Philadelphia is the week of January 23 , it’s a special week for Center City. Here is a little information about it;

At least 82 of Center City’s great restaurants are offering customers a special rate for that week of Jan 23 2005 through Jan 28 2005. You can get a minimum of Three Courses for only Thirty dollars per person at any of the participating restaurants. And, there are so many that are participating that you will have your choice of foods , cultures and styles. You do need to make a reservation ahead of time to get in on this deal. If you are interested in this offer, call them at this number for more information:
215 440 5500 and their fax is 215 922 7672 . These numbers are for the Center City District Central Philadelphia Development Corporation located at 660 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19106

THE MARKET STREET AREA

Has some quaint shops including a beautiful ‘chocolate’ or sweets shop. I got there too late so I didn’t’ get to sample their wares. BUT, the windows were decorated so beautifully, they just made your mouth water. It wasn’t even dark yet and the stores were closing-at least the chocolate shop.

The Market Street area just reminded me of a quaint old village, very different sites than you would see on the streets of New York City.

**********Best time for PICTURES*****

If you want great pictures be sure and be there for the Memorial Day Celebration. You will catch all the volunteers in uniforms; rifles etc. and you will see the Memorial re-enactment. I would call ahead to make sure this is still happening. I know that every city changes from year to year. So do check first.

************SHOPPING*****

Not far from the historic district there is a large shopping area, so you will feel comfortable having all these stores around to buy ‘basics’.

***********THE AREA*******

Most of the areas that I traveled through were ‘touristy’ and they felt quite safe. There were no rowdy groups or gangs, and everyone appeared friendly. The area is kept up nice. There was one area not far from the bus station that resembled part of NY without the crowds. There were little ‘artsy’ notes in some shop windows , and displays of the ‘rainbow’ that has been universally used as a sign that gays and lesbians are welcomed. [I guess the more politically correct phrase would be ‘these shops are g/l friendly’ ].

There were a few houses here and there that looked run down but mostly because they seemed to be under construction.

For the most part I felt comfortable and safe, and the city’s interesting shops, and food stores, restaurants and sidewalks and historical places kept my interest enough to say that this was definitely worth the trip.

I enjoyed being in a city where there was NO abundance of homeless. It was a very pleasant feeling to be able to walk through this area as a tourist and not have any strangers or homeless approach me for some cash donations.

I guess that is the part about NYC that I don’t miss when I am away from there. And, I notice it more when I arrive in a city like Philadelphia and I am at peace wherever I am walking.

This was a good trip. You can do it in one day –from early morning to late evening but you will be more comfy and see more if you spend an entire weekend there.

 

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