Philadelphia
I was in Philadelphia for the first time in my life over the first weekend in February. The occasion was that my friends Joe & Kristen were hosting a PhiKap Super Bowl party. Since there are many members of my fraternity in the New York / New Jersey / Philadelphia area, we had a pretty healthy crowd of people say they'd attend.
First though, I had to spend some time in the city. I flew in Thursday night. Friday morning, Joe and I took the train down to the Liberty Bell. After we checked that out we walked over to Franklin's Grave. At this time Mike met us. We wandered through Independence Hall, and then headed toward South Street for lunch. On the way we walked through Washington Square and stopped at the tomb of the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier.
When you think of Philadelphia cuisine, the first thing that comes to mind is a cheese steak. Joe just moved to Philadelphia recently, but Mike grew up there and has lived there all his life aside from five years of college and a few years following. He took us to his favorite cheese steak place, Jim's Steaks. We had each had a delicious sandwich for lunch, and then we started walking. Our destination? The Rocky Steps, which are at the entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, approximately three miles from Jim's.
Fortunately it was a beautiful sunny day. There was a chill wind, but it was still unseasonably warm. Along the way we stopped at the Reading Terminal Market. Envision, if you will, the West Side Market, but make it significantly larger, add in a really high quality food court, and throw in a bunch of random stores that have nothing to do with food. That's more or less what the Reading Terminal Market is like. It's not as pretty architecturally as the West Side Market, and the focus is on prepared foods more than raw ingredient, but it's still pretty cool. I bought a dessert from a young woman who had an old school eggbeater tattooed on her forearm and we continued.
As we continued along our route we also passed a ridiculous number of statues. These ranged from classic "equestrian in bronze" statues to modern art and everything in between. We saw the statue of Billy Penn atop City Hall, and we passed a number of fountains, all sans water since it was winter but beautiful anyway.
When I was asked what I wanted to in Philly, the Rocky Steps were the first thing I thought of. I was a little embarrassed by this, but it turns out that this is a fairly typical reaction. In the just the ten minutes we were there we saw more than a dozen people climb up the stairs and wave their arms, and that was on a weekday afternoon in February. The art museum looked pretty awesome, but neither Joe nor Mike are much interested in art, and besides it our good friend Wayne was flying in from Chicago and we had to meet his train. We picked him up, grabbed Kristen and their twin toddlers and got some tasty Thai food in their home base of Haverford. The waitress was very attractive and was flirting a lot... with Joe's twins. After that Joe, Mike, Wayne & I hit an Irish pub near Joe's house and took turns buying rounds for each other.
The next day was Saturday, and we had a big pre-Super Bowl party at Joe & Kristen's house. My old cohost Dr. Bovi and his wife Kristy came down from Jersey with their toddler. Mike and his wife Meredith and their twin toddlers came over. B-Rad and his girlfriend and their dog came down from New York City. Nick and Jimi came down from Jersey. Add in me and Wayne and we had a pretty awesome get together. For those keeping score at home that's eight fraternity brothers, four significant others and five kids, all under the age of three, plus a dog. Joe's house was a little chaotic. Much alcohol and food was consumed.
To alleviate the crowding I switched over to Mike & Meredith's house in the nearby suburb of Springfield for the next two nights. I played more Wii than I had in the rest of my entire life combined. Did you know Wii has sword fighting games? Why wasn't I informed of this?
Anyway, for the Super Bowl we had most of the same people, minus Dr. Bovi & Kristy but with the addition of a few of Joe's friends. The game itself was a tight nail biter right down the last play. Almost as entertaining as the game itself was watching Jimi try to figure out who to root for. As a Jets fan, he is required to loathe both the Giants and the Patriots. The general consensus of the room was to cheer for the Giants (who can cheer for a team from Boston?) and the crowd went home happy.
The next morning Mike & I got lunch at his favorite hoagie place, and then he drove me to the airport. It was a solid weekend. I definitely need to get back to Philadelphia; in particular I need to spend some time in the art museum. Ok, a lot of time. They've got an entire secondary museum dedicated to Rodin, which is just ridiculously awesome. Fortunately, I will be back there in June, when among other things I will be going to a Phillies game, assuming we can tickets. They're actually consistently good now, so that's by no means guaranteed.
First though, I had to spend some time in the city. I flew in Thursday night. Friday morning, Joe and I took the train down to the Liberty Bell. After we checked that out we walked over to Franklin's Grave. At this time Mike met us. We wandered through Independence Hall, and then headed toward South Street for lunch. On the way we walked through Washington Square and stopped at the tomb of the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier.
When you think of Philadelphia cuisine, the first thing that comes to mind is a cheese steak. Joe just moved to Philadelphia recently, but Mike grew up there and has lived there all his life aside from five years of college and a few years following. He took us to his favorite cheese steak place, Jim's Steaks. We had each had a delicious sandwich for lunch, and then we started walking. Our destination? The Rocky Steps, which are at the entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, approximately three miles from Jim's.
Fortunately it was a beautiful sunny day. There was a chill wind, but it was still unseasonably warm. Along the way we stopped at the Reading Terminal Market. Envision, if you will, the West Side Market, but make it significantly larger, add in a really high quality food court, and throw in a bunch of random stores that have nothing to do with food. That's more or less what the Reading Terminal Market is like. It's not as pretty architecturally as the West Side Market, and the focus is on prepared foods more than raw ingredient, but it's still pretty cool. I bought a dessert from a young woman who had an old school eggbeater tattooed on her forearm and we continued.
As we continued along our route we also passed a ridiculous number of statues. These ranged from classic "equestrian in bronze" statues to modern art and everything in between. We saw the statue of Billy Penn atop City Hall, and we passed a number of fountains, all sans water since it was winter but beautiful anyway.
When I was asked what I wanted to in Philly, the Rocky Steps were the first thing I thought of. I was a little embarrassed by this, but it turns out that this is a fairly typical reaction. In the just the ten minutes we were there we saw more than a dozen people climb up the stairs and wave their arms, and that was on a weekday afternoon in February. The art museum looked pretty awesome, but neither Joe nor Mike are much interested in art, and besides it our good friend Wayne was flying in from Chicago and we had to meet his train. We picked him up, grabbed Kristen and their twin toddlers and got some tasty Thai food in their home base of Haverford. The waitress was very attractive and was flirting a lot... with Joe's twins. After that Joe, Mike, Wayne & I hit an Irish pub near Joe's house and took turns buying rounds for each other.
The next day was Saturday, and we had a big pre-Super Bowl party at Joe & Kristen's house. My old cohost Dr. Bovi and his wife Kristy came down from Jersey with their toddler. Mike and his wife Meredith and their twin toddlers came over. B-Rad and his girlfriend and their dog came down from New York City. Nick and Jimi came down from Jersey. Add in me and Wayne and we had a pretty awesome get together. For those keeping score at home that's eight fraternity brothers, four significant others and five kids, all under the age of three, plus a dog. Joe's house was a little chaotic. Much alcohol and food was consumed.
To alleviate the crowding I switched over to Mike & Meredith's house in the nearby suburb of Springfield for the next two nights. I played more Wii than I had in the rest of my entire life combined. Did you know Wii has sword fighting games? Why wasn't I informed of this?
Anyway, for the Super Bowl we had most of the same people, minus Dr. Bovi & Kristy but with the addition of a few of Joe's friends. The game itself was a tight nail biter right down the last play. Almost as entertaining as the game itself was watching Jimi try to figure out who to root for. As a Jets fan, he is required to loathe both the Giants and the Patriots. The general consensus of the room was to cheer for the Giants (who can cheer for a team from Boston?) and the crowd went home happy.
The next morning Mike & I got lunch at his favorite hoagie place, and then he drove me to the airport. It was a solid weekend. I definitely need to get back to Philadelphia; in particular I need to spend some time in the art museum. Ok, a lot of time. They've got an entire secondary museum dedicated to Rodin, which is just ridiculously awesome. Fortunately, I will be back there in June, when among other things I will be going to a Phillies game, assuming we can tickets. They're actually consistently good now, so that's by no means guaranteed.