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yk's 4-day trip to Philadelphia
I went to Philadelphia for a conference in early June, and DH flew up from Dallas for the weekend. It was a trip combined with work, a bit of sightseeing, and meeting up with some old friends.
A little background: both of us have lived in Philadelphia for 6 years, so we didn't do the "usual" tourist attractions. Neither one had ever been to the Barnes Foundation, so this was the main highlight of our trip. <b>Day 1</b> My plane arrived early, which gave me just enough time to catch the 2:13pm SEPTA R1 train to Center City. Originally, I was planning on taking a taxi or hotel shuttle, but since the train was about to depart, it was a much cheaper option ($5.50) which would take the same amount of time. I cannot even tell you how many times I've taken this R1 train. I got off at Market East station, which is right next to the Marriott. I got to the lobby at 2:45pm, and it was a zoo there. It took over 15 minutes to wait for my turn to check in, and no, the room wasn't ready! I left my luggage there and hailed a cab to the UPenn campus in West Philly to meet with an old friend. After chatting for 2 hours, she had to head home, so I headed to the <b>Institute of Contemporary Art</b>, which is part of Penn. http://www.icaphila.org/ I didn't find the exhibitions that interesting. On the ground floor was Make Your Own Life:Artists In and Out of Cologne. One of the works is made up of several paper shopping bags. The artist (I forgot who) received a $5000 commission to create a piece for this exhibition, so he decided to use the money to go shopping - and displayed the empty shopping bags as the finished product. I could have done that! A slightly more interesting exhibit is photographs by Candida Höfer. I have never heard of her before, but apparently she studied with Becher, and is in the same circle as Thomas Struth. I returned to Marriott and my room was ready. I rested a bit before heading out to Amada for dinner with another friend. http://www.amadarestaurant.com/ Address: 217-219 Chestnut Street Tel: 215.625.2450 Amada opened after I had moved. It was completely packed on that Thursday night. Even though our reservation was for 8:30p, we didn't get seated until 9! The tapas were excellent! My favorite was <i>chipirones en su tinta</i> - squid in ink sauce. Even though it was late when we left, we decided to walk back. I was so full that I needed the walk to help digest the food. ----------------------------------- <b>Day 2</b> My conference ended at 4:45pm. I rushed back to the hotel to drop off my bag, then hopped on the Philly Phlash bus ($1) and headed to the <b>Philadelphia Museum of Art</b>. http://www.philamuseum.org/ It was Friday night, and the museum was open until 8:45pm. There is always live music on Friday nights, and I had been to a few of those in the past. I joined the 6pm guided tour on Contemporary Art. I had visited that part of the museum before, but never paid much attention due to my lack of understanding. I didn't think our docent was that good, but we did stop for a long time in a gallery created for Cy Twomley's <i>Fifty Days at Iliam</i>. It is a 10-part sequence of his version of the Iliad. After the tour, I stayed in the Modern wing for a while. There is an entire room dedicated to Jasper Johns, one to Brancusi, and of course, an entire room of Marcel Duchamp. What I found interesting in the Duchamp room, is that the works are shown chronologically. I didn't know that Duchamp did paintings in Impressionistic and Cubist style, before he came up with his Readymades. In the middle of Duchamp's gallery sits his <i>Bride</i>. I also visited the gallery which held Kelly's exhibition. The Old Masters section of the PMA was somewhat disappointing. Of the Flemish paintings, the most prized piece is Rogier van der Weyden's <i>Crucifixion</i>. I find the painting rather unlike the majority of the Flemish Primitives paintings I had seen. This one is quite bare of any details or decorations. I personally find it rather dull. The Italian Renaissance section is also unimpressive. Finally, I walked through the galleries about three times and failed to see any paintings by Rembrandt or Caravaggio (gasp!). The PMA is famous for its Impressionist paintings. One of Van Gogh's painting, <i>Rain</i>, caught my eye. The docent informed us that he painted it while he was in the asylum. Lastly, while roaming through the galleries, a Turner caught my eye. Look at the fierceness of the fire! Wait! Haven't I seen this before? Yes, it was lent to the Turner-Monet-Whistler exhibit which we attended last year in London. I left the museum at closing. Being frugal, I decided to take the bus instead of a cab back to the city. Of the 6 years I've lived in Philadelphia, I think I had taken the bus twice. Somehow, I am not a fan of the bus in Philly. Nonetheless, I waited and the bus came. I got off on Broad Street. I decided to have dinner alone at Shiroi Hana, a Japanese restaurant close to where I used to live. I ordered their sashimi dinner. I found the fish at Shiroi Hana mediocre. http://www.shiroihana.com/ Address: 222 S. 15th Street (between Walnut & Locust) Tel: (215) 735-4444 |
<b>Day 3</b>
My conference ended at 3:30pm, which was perfect timing. DH was already on the SEPTA R1 train heading into the city. We both arrived at the Marriott around the same time. After dropping off his luggage, we set off for the <b>National Constitution Center</b>. http://www.constitutioncenter.org/ The NCC opened a few months before I left Philadelphia, but I never got around to visit it. I've heard great things about it, and decided to pay a visit. One's visit begins with a 20-minute multi-media show. I fell asleep half way through. On the second floor is plenty of interactive displays, but most of them didn't spark my interest. I can imagine one can easily spend hours there, checking out each display. I didn't have that kind of patience. We left just a little before 6pm, and had a nice leisurely stroll back to the hotel for a brief rest. Dinner was at <b>Estia</b>. It is also new since I left town. Despite the great reviews, we found it about average. DH had the Stuffed Calamari for appetizer, and chicken with thyme and lemon sauce for entree. I chose the today's special for both appetizer and entree: halibut soup, and Chilean sea bass. I though the sea bass was pretty good. We decided to skip dessert. http://www.estiarestaurant.com/ Address: 1405-07 Locust St Tel: 215-735-7700 Before heading back to the hotel, we stopped at <b>Capogiro</b> for gelato. I must admit, their gelato is definitely better than Paciugo in Dallas. http://www.capogirogelato.com/ Address: 119 S. 13th Street Tel: (215) 351-0900 ------------------------------ <b>Day 4</b> Since DH is here, we cannot start the day without breakfast. I had bought some chinese pastries from <b>KC's Pastries</b> the day before. The Philadelphia Marriott is located just next to Chinatown, and KC's is my favorite pastry shop. http://www.phillychinatown.com/kcpastries.htm Address: 109 North 10th Street I felt somewhat guilty dragging DH out of bed so early on a Sunday morning while on vacation, but we had to get to <b>Barnes Foundation</b> by 9:30am. The Barnes is known for its collection of Impressionist paintings, and one has to reserve tickets 6-8 weeks in advance to visit as it limits to 400 visitors a day. [A reason why I never bothered to go when I was living in Philadelphia.] http://www.barnesfoundation.org/ We took the 8:40am R5-Paoli train to Merion and arrived at 9am. It is then a 15-minute walk. The weather could not have been nicer, and DH commented on how fresh the air was. Our 9:30am reservation is the earliest for the day, and we found ourselves among plenty of visitors standing by at the door waiting for it to open. We were one of the first few to be let in, and we signed up for the 10am docent tour. I think there are only 20 spots for the tour, so not everyone with a 9:30am reservation was able to get in the tour. After putting my purse in the locker downstairs, we ventured into the Main gallery. It was a feast for the eyes. Dr. Barnes had intended this to be a teaching venue, so the paintings are hung in groups for comparison purposes, rather than your typical museum-style. I was taken aback by the huge number of paintings there. Barnes has the largest collection of Renoirs in the world - 181 of them, and plenty of works by Matisse, Cezanne and Modigliani. After the tour, we roamed around the galleries on our own for another hour, before we headed out for a stroll in the arboretum. We left around 12:30pm and made our way back to the Merion station. The train got us back to the city at around 1:30pm. We headed to <b>Penang</b> for lunch. I ordered my "usual" - Roti Canai to start, and Seafood TomYam Noodle Soup. I am not joking when I said my "usual," as I literally ordered the same thing every single time I eat there! http://www.phillychinatown.com/penang.htm Address: 117 N. 10th Street Tel: (215) 413-2531 After lunch, we still had 2 hours before heading to the airport, so we headed for <b>Rittenhouse Sq</b> for some retail therapy. Several new shops have opened up, including my favorite Cole Haan. Alas, I didn't find anything I like. We made a requisite stop at <b>La Colombe</b> and bought 3 pounds of Corsica beans. The folks who work there are just as rude as they used to be. http://www.lacolombe.com/ Address: 130 S. 19th Street We took the 3:55pm R1 SEPTA train back to the airport. DH & I were flying on different airlines, but our flights were scheduled within 15 minutes of each other. Unfortunately, I arrived at the gate to find my flight being delayed for an hour. DH had to wait around at DFW for me to arrive. Overall, this was a nice trip. I was able to get something out of a trip for work. Everything worked out to plan, except for the plane delay at the very end of the trip. |
VERY nice. You write a great report. Glad you had a good time.
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ttt
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yk or anyone else - I am currently staying at Rittenhouse Square but have enough points for the Marriot downtown Philadelphia (not the courtyard) the stay would be free.
I read some other old threads about the saftey and on trip advisor it mentions the area is not that great on a report. I am hoping to save the money (we are 3 nights) thanks in advance - I may repost. dawn |
YK - Sounds like a great trip. You mentioned the "modern wing" at the PMA. Did you visit the modern art building, Perelman, across the street?
MomDD - The various Marriotts are all about a block apart. The area (Market Street, Convention Center, City Hall, Market East) is fine but not as pretty as Rittenhouse Square or Society Hill. That said, you should use common sense in any of these areas, just as you would in any city. |
thank you - I am sorry for bringing up a 2006 thread :-) I know YK still posts though.
I ended up changing the reservation. |
I think you'll be fine at the Marriott, Dawn. It is a big hotel with lots of guests coming and going. It isn't as pretty as the Rittenhouse Square area but it isn't unsafe, and Philadelphia is a small city so you are still close to everything.
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Hi Dawn-
You'll be fine at the Marriott. The area is definitely not nearly as posh as Rittenhouse, but it's perfectly safe. It may be a mild shock for people not used to Philadelphia, but unless you're planning to be walking outside at 3am, you'll be just fine. Since you're in Philadelphia already, why not just stop by the Marriott and see what you think. The best thing about the Marriott is that it's next door to the REading Terminal Market; and also a few blocks from Chinatown. Lots of good, cheap eats. |
Oh, MLTimes - No, I didn't visit Perelman building. I don't think it was open then (my trip was over 2 years ago).
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YK - I am in Orange County California :-)I was born in the city of brotherly love (well Chester LOL) and lived in NJ till I was around 9...:-)
Thanks for the feedback. I know it is not going to be as posh or nice but free is good. I have almost the entire two weeks on points, I was able to get all three nights now (before I only had two) at the Hilton Garden Inn in Timesquare (again not my first choice but FREE is good) and then the Marriott in Philly. In DC I am paying 60.00 a night plus points for the Westin in Foggers <sp> ? bottom (I know I have that wrong! LOL)... I am paying for one night in Lancaster and one night in Williamsburg. |
Foggy Bottom
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LOL - I knew I had it wrong and was to lazy to look it up this morning. Thank you :-)
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