Philly trip report
 

My husband and I plus kids aged 10 and 12 just returned from a great time in Philly. Our first night we were very fortunate to be able to stay at the 4 Seasons. Can't say enough good stuff. Great service. Toys and cookies and milk at turn down for the kids. The family had a celebration dinner which was wonderful. The staff knows how to include the kids. They even passed around peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as one of the hor d'oerves! Spent the next day at the Franklin Institute which my kids really enjoyed. Then walked down to the Art Museum for the Eakins exhibit. The best view of Philly is from the top of the Art Museum steps. Moved over to the Wyndham which was not the 4 Seasons but definitely good for the price. Large comfortable rooms. I'm going to look at the Sofitel for next time though if only for the location. There aren't any restaurants you can walk to near the Wyndham. Our last day was spent in the historic area. We saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Both are open. Both had lines of one hour. Security is tight. You can't even walk around the Liberty Bell building anymore to see the Bell from the outside. The Mint, unfortunately, has been closed for security reasons. Thanks to all the help from you guys on this site. We'll definitely be going back.

Glad to hear you enjoyed your visit. Don't worry, you didn't miss a thing by the mint being closed. Some out-of-town visitors HAD to see it a couple of years ago. I don't think they liked it any better than we did. Badly done and boring.

Susan, I sure hope you got to eat a cheesesteak!???

Not this time unfortunately. My favorite has always been Jims but I hear D'Allesandros' (sp?) are great. I wanted to pick some up on the way home and then heat them up but couldn't even manage that. There are a lot of places here in Tidewater VA that claim to have "Philly-style" cheesesteaks but they always put in chopped green bell peppers. Anyone that does that does not know what a real cheesesteak is. Plus the key is Amoroso rolls and you can't get those here. What do you think of the chicken steaks?

Yeah, you're right -- the rolls are the key! And I never went for the Cheez Whix, it has to be thinly sliced white American for this girl! Never tried a chicken steak -- guess I'm just chicken :) -- prefer mine on a Caesar salad instead!