Day One: History + Culinary
Day Two: Art + Culinary
That pretty much sums up our time there!
We stayed in South Jersey and took the train in each day which was kind of fun. Again, beautiful weather both days so we had no problem walking everywhere once we got into the city.
The first day we started with the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, with a quick tour and then walked over to Christs Church Burial grounds to see Franklin’s grave. We liked seeing the inside courtroom and the room where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated and acted on. Although almost all of the furniture has been replicated, the chair that John Hancock sat in ( as President of the Convention) and later George Washington (as the Commander in Chief) was the original. It has a carving of a rising sun on the back and supposedly Benjamin Franklin pondered during the proceedings ( he was 81) whether it was a rising sun or a setting sun, and reminded everyone that that outcome depended on the people themselves stepping up to keep the republic focused on freedom and unity rather than division. Pretty wise…..which is hitting me harder right now since the election is only a few days away.
From the historic area we walked to the Reading Terminal Market to give Tim his market moment! I knew he would like that place, and he did! We wandered for quite some time, sampled the soft pretzels (FAB) and the famous donut shop (FAB) and settled on lunch at a sandwich shop which was highly rated but didn’t deliver (UGH). Oh well….We also checked out the Magic Gardens which are in South Philly and pretty wild. Basically a mosaic artist let loose who has created several inside and outside mosaics…three stories high, alleyways, inside, outside, everywhere.
The second day was Art and Culinary….started at Philadelphia Art Museum and spent 3 hours roaming the vast collections. American Art, a Shaker exhibit, a Japanese Tea Room installation, Korean ceramics, etc…You need several days here and we continued to find things we didn’t think we were interested in, but ended up fascinated!
Then headed to the Italian Market to walk around a bit and find some of the recommendations we had heard about. South Philly Barbacoa, Di Bruno Brothers and Ralphs. Ralphs is the oldest Italian restaurant in the US, founded in 1900 and still run by fifth generation. The Frank Sinatra music never waned and the meatballs were divine. We are fairly sure someone had been murdered there at some point….
Then we walked to Parc, another recommendation, and a fabulous French bistro and festive vibe. Tacos, meatballs, French Onion soup, beet salad….thank goodness we walked a lot but still not enough to wear off the food! Great day in Philly.
