To Philadelphia for a Few Days
 

I think I allowed too many days. We're flying to NY (9/14) for 3 days and then Amtrak to Philadelphia for 4 days and then flying back home.

Why 3 days in NY and 4 in Philadelphia. Well, we've been to NY several times in the past 6 years but never to Philadelphia. I guess I'd rather one day too much than one day to few.

Ok. Now the questions.

We usually do a lot of walking. I've noticed there's a whole area of fairmount Park after The Museum; Boathouse Row and the park Houses. They also seem to be a bit of a distance beyond The Museum.

Is this distance walkable in a reasonable amount of time? Are there transit lines that far out? I have a SEPTA Street & Transit map but it ends at The Museum. #32 appears to go beyond but don't know where. Help?

Also, when going to the airport for an evening flight, should we just cab it or go to the Market East Station and take the R1?

Always tempting to just cab it and not drag suitcases down, up and around. Could be wrong here.

Any other ideas of reachable sights to fill any extra time? Other than the obvious ones, of course.

Thanks.

Directly behind the Museum is the newly restored Waterworks, now a Water Department museum and also a place to get lovely pix of the river. From there you can walk up Kelly Drive as far as you like, passing the Boathouses fairly early on. (Click here http://community.webshots.com/user/missalg and go to the Philadelphia album to see this walk.) On that particular day of photography I walked up the Parkway from City Hall and quite a way up Kelly Drive, but that's a bit of a hike.

There are historic houses in Fairmount Park, quite lovely, and historic Laurel Hill cemetery also offers tours in that area.

As far as your other days in Philadelphia, of course so much depends on your interests, but there is quite a lot to see and do: some of my favorites include the Ben Franklin Walk, the City Hall area (with shopping stops on at Duross and Langel for soap and Naked Chocolate for, well, liquid chocolate ecstasy), and the University of PA Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology...just for a beginning.

There's great hiking in the Wissahickon, the "must-sees" of the historic district (and I'd include the Free Quaker meeting house in that but not necessarily Betsy's place), the neighborhoods of Manayunk or Chestnut Hill for a change of pace...

Just let us know and we'll help you come up with something to do, for sure! :)

PS: For Septa, www.septa.org has a very decent "Plan my Trip" function. As for the airport, I've used the R1 frequently and it's really not that bad to get around in the stations, to my mind...let's just say I've had tougher times in some other places. On the other hand, I believe there is a set price for the cabs (I'll reserve that for anyone who actually uses them!) or you could arrange a limo pickup service and, while it would cost more than double the rail fare, it might be worth it for you.

Thanks.

It looks like the #48 comes back from the far end of Fairmount Park. Correct?

If you were to spend a few hours walking around, Chestnut Hill/ Germantown (I saw pictures of beautiful homes) or South Street area (or both).

We just like to walk around and see the sights. We'll go to a museum or two but it's not a priority. Depends on the weather.

The 48 does run by part of Fairmount Park; the park is so big, of course, it kinda depends where you end up as to what route you'd be on...There is a hop-on, hop-off trolley for touring the houses.

I find Philadelphia to be extremely walkable; very easy to find one's way around, as well, as Wm. Penn was into right angles for his streets. South Street is eclectic; I'd say that if you would want to wander down from, say, Market to South there are some interesting sites along the way, or you could go from Penn's Landing up to Head House Square and then on up South.

Chestnut Hill is lovely; the Morris Arboretum is a nice interlude there. Germantown has some magnificent homes, but in some areas you do need to be, um, "urban aware" so to speak.

I'm guessing you've visited www.gophila.com ? If not, it's a wonderful source for walking tours. Another of my favorite walking areas is the Rittenhouse Square area and down Walnut Street.

I hope your weather is the beauty that September in Philadelphia CAN be; right now it's, well, not so great, so here's hoping the nice weather is just saving up for next weekend.

Hi, Myer, Hope you're having a good time in Philadelphia...we saved our best weather for you. (It's in the 60's-70's and sunny, with brilliant blue skies, for those of you who aren't here; September and October in Philadelphia can be just gorgeous.)

Try to get to the incomparable Barnes Collection just outside Philadelphia. You need to make reservations, which can be done on-line.

I second Michael's suggestion - the Barnes is amazing! Enjoy!

If you can walk from the Hotel to the station take the R1 out. In my experience it departs and arrives on time. I usually get there early enough to buy a ticket and figure out what track it is on, it can be confusing.

Just returned very late last night. I'll write a report over the next few days.

Yes, the weather was spectacular.

No, we couldn't go to the Barnes as we were there Mon - Thur and it's only open on the weekend.

It didn't pay to take the R1 as we would have had to get to the station and we are two.

The saving wouldn't be worth the effort.