Philly with an 11 year old

Old Feb 4th, 2004, 07:31 PM
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Kim
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Philly with an 11 year old

I'm attending a conference in Philadelphia in April and am bringing my husband and 11 year old daughter to vacation and have fun while mom works. We're staying at the Park Hyatt downtown. I'm looking for ideas to keep them busy and happy; fun places to eat, great things to see, maybe a short day trip they could go on?
We're from Seattle, so the area will be brand new to us!
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Old Feb 4th, 2004, 07:32 PM
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Tell us more about your daughter.
i have a 11 year old girl and we live just across the river in nj and come in Philly quite often.

melissa
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Old Feb 4th, 2004, 07:59 PM
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Some ideas about waht to do in Philly:

Franklin Institute

Academy of Natural Sciences

Independence National Historic Park (Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the National Constitution Center)

Stroll down South Street(Hip Bohemian type neighborhood)

What type of food do your daughter and husband prefer? Philly is a great restaurant city:

For a great cheesesteak or hoagie I would recommend either Geno's(9th and Passyunk) or Jim's Steaks(4th and South Street). The Reading Terminal Market has quite a number of nice places to go for lunch. Old City, near the Historic area, also has quite a nice selection of restaurants.

As far as daytrips are concerned, New York City would be a great daytrip. You can take the Amtrak from 30th Street Station to New York Penn Station. The trip takes 1.5 hr.

Check out www.gophila.com for more information.

Have a great time in Philly.
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Old Feb 4th, 2004, 11:53 PM
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Afternoon tea at the Four Seasons Hotel is something your husband and daughter might enjoy very much. It's very popular and you will find well-behaved kids there; a nice way to start kids on the pleasures of elegant dining. As for your husband, he won't find the tea too "fussy", in fact, many businessmen take favorite (or potentially favorite) clients there.
Reading Terminal is always a treat as both a fun thing to do and finding a fun place to eat (keep in mind, though, that many of the Amish stands are empty the beginning of the week, best days for those stands are Thursday and Friday).
FYI, MTV's Real World will be filming its next season next to the Betsy Ross House.
The Phila Art Museum is world class but also very interesting is the Archaelogy Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.
A walk through the historic district is a great way to spend a few hours in good weather. My favorite route is Delancey Street from Front Street up to 6th, then cutting over to Pine Street up to 18th, then back to Delancey up to 23rd, then over to Fitler Square. Mama de Palma's, nearby on 23rd and Spruce, has won many awards for best pizza in town.
Of course, there is the whole Independence and Carpenter Hall area and that should be on anyone's must see list.
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Old Feb 5th, 2004, 02:18 AM
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Day Trips:

Lancaster/ Pennsylvania Amish country - need a car 1 1/2hrs or so.

Baltimore - 2 hrs by car (can take a train). Great inner harbour area with shopping and restaurants with a world class aquarium.

Within Philly - the museums are great. The Art Museum is one of best in the country. Franklin insitute is a science museum as is the Natural History Museum. There is a fun "duck" tour which is a bus that become a boat and tours the history. Also, the US historical things - independence hall, liberty bell. etc.
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Old Feb 5th, 2004, 03:50 AM
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Kim-

Philadelphia has lots to offer. I agree with most of the posts above, and agree that the Art Museum and Archeology Museum are great, but they might be too boring for a 11-year old. Here are my thoughts:

Independence Hall area

Franklin Institute (science museum)

Academy of Natural Sciences (dinosaurs)

Please Touch Museum

Philadelphia Zoo

Ride the Duck

NJ Aquarium across the river in Camden

Day trips:

Amish Country - can even do buggy rides!

Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square - in April it's tulips everywhere! Check their website beforehand to see what's blooming.

http://www.gophila.com/

http://www.longwoodgardens.org/
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Old Feb 5th, 2004, 05:19 AM
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My pre-teens really liked our trip to the US Mint in Philly. It is close to the area where Independece Hall is. We did that on day one in the a.m. Then we went to the Italiand market, had lunch and went to the Mummer's museum.
They really liked the Mummers museum- a place where the history of the Mummers who march in the New Years parade is housed, and it has alot of their strange and colorful costumes on display. This is unique and not something you'll see anywhere else. We combined the mummer's museum w/a trip to the outdoor Italian market nearby (you can pick up some food items to take home- best pepperoni, in huge sticks, and parmesan I've ever had) and lunch of cheesesteaks at Pat's/Gino's also near the Italian market (the dueling cheesesteak places mentioned above, they are across the street from each other). That was a fantastic day. Our second day was spent at Independence Hall area, where we really liked Ben Franlin's house/museum, it had alot of interactive fun/educational things for the kids
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Old Feb 5th, 2004, 05:30 AM
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For the best cheesesteak, go to Jim's on 4th South Street, there may be a long line, but it's worth it. South St. could also get annoyingly crowded on a weekend night with a lot of beatnik's so it's better to go in the daytime. The kid would like the 'please touch museum' & 'the franklin institute.' Also you'll be in walking distances of many stores/restaurants on Walnut St. and right across from City Hall. The Italian 9th St. Food Market is always a good sight with great food (near Geno & Pats steaks) Enjoy!
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Old Feb 5th, 2004, 06:32 PM
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Kim
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Thanks for all of your suggestions! I just wish I could skip out of my conference and join them! I know they want to go to NY City for a daytrip and try Geno's! She's done the Ride the Duck in other cities and I'm thinking that would be a good, fun introduction of the city for them. I'd love to be able to talk my husband into taking her to tea...
It sounds like the Please Touch museum is a must and I'll need to enourage her to do a bit of reading to get her into the history of the city!
Thanks again!
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Old Feb 5th, 2004, 06:56 PM
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Kim-

One more thing: in case you are interested in touring US Mint as suggested by emd, you have to make arrangements ahead of time. Here's the website:

http://www.usmint.gov/mint_tours/ind...n=philadelphia

I hope you'll enjoy Philadelphia!
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Old Feb 5th, 2004, 08:43 PM
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According to their website, the Please Touch Museum was designed for children aged seven and younger.

http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/grownups_flash.asp

You have plenty of other good suggestions here. You'll find details and special events listings on the gophila.com website, maps and more info at the Visitors' Center at Sixth and Market.
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Old Feb 6th, 2004, 04:42 AM
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Another area to explore is around the University of Pennsylvania -- 34th and Chestnut or so. It looks as though the Institute of Contemporary Art (www.icaphila.org) is having a show an 11-year-old girl would find fun (the Art Museum will be showing Manet then). In that several block area are also, among other things:
-- the very funky White Dog Cafe and Black Cat Gift Shop (Sansom Street)
-- Pod, Steven Starr's futuristic sushi restaurant (also Sansom Street) where the booths light up when you sit down in them and the sushi is delivered on a conveyor belt
-- the Penn bookstore, which is also a Barnes&Noble with a nice kids' section (I have an 11-year-old myself)
-- the offbeat Urban Outfitters store
-- a Bridge Cinema DeLuxe movie theater (the only other is in Los Angeles), in case it's a rainy day
-- Penn's Museum of Archeology and Anthropology (we had a fun field trip there last year).

The campus itself should be beautiful that time of year. The 42 bus will take them right up Chestnut and back down again.
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Old Feb 6th, 2004, 06:15 AM
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All suggestions above sound great -- one more to add to the list. Dave & Buster's on the waterfront. If you haven't been, check out their web-site. This would be a great place to eat dinner and play games -- especially after a day of treking all around the city site-seeing!
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Old Feb 6th, 2004, 12:25 PM
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I just have to add that I've taken many, many 11 year olds to the U of P Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology...and they love it! If she's studying Egypt or other world cultures in school she'd have a great time.

A carriage ride around the historic district is also popular with kids, although not always completely historically accurate.

In Fairmount Park (via the tour trolleys) the Pine Breeze Villa (Japanese Tea House) has also proven to be surprisingly popular with that age group.

Have a lovely trip! Spring is a wonderful time in Philadelphia.
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Old Feb 6th, 2004, 02:16 PM
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To: MelissaBeckoff

I know it's unrelated to Kim's question, but you are the right person to ask. We will be visiting a relative soon moving to Morristown, NJ, and we'd like to take a side trip for a couple of nights to Philly. Where can we "cross" the river? Or is it better to take a train? Thanks.
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