Philadelphia, PA trip - What else is there?

"Pan" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 01:09:58 GMT, "Who Turned Off The Lights?"
wrote:

Hello. We'll be visiting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for business this
Friday
but will have all day Saturday and part of Sunday free to sight-see.

I know I should be visiting Independence Hall .

There are several things around Independence Hall, i.e., Carpenters Hall,
etc. If you can ,walk around the corner and eat lunch at the City Tavern. It
is operated ( and owned, I believe) by the National Parks department. They
serve period food and the dishes are copies of period dishes (not real
pewter, of course) and the waitstaff is dressed in period clothing. We went
there and the food was good and very interesting. It is not corny as you
might suspect but a decent restaurant with decent prices. BTW, City Tavern
is where the movers and shakers of that time period would go for beer. Also
at the other end of town is Rittenhouse Square. An interesting part of the
city, upper class with attractive town houses. On one side of the square are
several quite good restaurants. One is a seafood place that is particularly
good..

In article GxWug.15858$T87.15665@trndny05,
"Who Turned Off The Lights?" wrote:

Hello. We'll be visiting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for business this Friday
but will have all day Saturday and part of Sunday free to sight-see.

I know I should be visiting Independence Hall and whatever Historical Sights
must be in that part of town.

But....anything else? Anything I should make sure I don't miss seeing before
heading back home to NYC?

NOTE: something cool outside of Philly but not too far would be really nice
though. I already checked for caverns in PA and what I'd found were too far
away.

Any suggestions appreciated. :-)

What are your interests? You could easily spend a weekend just visiting
a few of Philadelphia's museums.

In article ,
B wrote:

On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 07:32:33 GMT, Pan wrote:

Has the Franklin Institute been renovated recently? I went there about
10 years ago and was disappointed that while it had the same exhibits
I enjoyed when I was a kid about 37 years ago, many of them weren't
working and it almost seemed like they hadn't been maintained since
the 70s.

I had the same impression the last time I was there. It's really a
shame; it could be a great museum.

I was just at the Franklin Institute two weeks ago. There's a lot to see
and do there. The biology wing was recently remodeled and there's a new
heart exhibit. For anyone who is into science and technology, a visit to
the Franklin Institute will be enjoyable.

I haven't seen it yet, but the Franklin Institute has a temporary
exhibit all about animation that looks very interesting. The web site at
http://www.fi.edu/ has lots of information for those who are interested
in the Franklin Institute.

In article FDWug.24989$pn4.834@trndny02,
"Who Turned Off The Lights?" wrote:

sechumlib wrote:
On 2006-07-17 21:09:58 -0400, "Who Turned Off The Lights?"
said:

Hello. We'll be visiting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for business this
Friday but will have all day Saturday and part of Sunday free to
sight-see.
....omitted

NOTE: something cool outside of Philly but not too far would be
really nice though. I already checked for caverns in PA and what I'd
found were too far away.

Well, there's always Valley Forge.

DANG!!!! My kind of place! I'd've never thought it.
Just found it on the map and looked up the official nps.gov site.

Many thanks sechumlib ! Anyone else have an idea?

For those who are interested, there's a wonderful five mile bike trail
through Valley Forge. If you walk to the parking lot on the lower level
near the visitors center, there's an area where bikes can be rented for
a modest price.

"Shawn Hirn" wrote in message
...
In article GxWug.15858$T87.15665@trndny05,
"Who Turned Off The Lights?" wrote:

Any suggestions appreciated. :-)

What are your interests? You could easily spend a weekend just visiting
a few of Philadelphia's museums.

Well, everything except Night-Life items. Everyone's been so very helpful
here.

To be honest, I think it'll depend on the weather what we end up doing.
If it's very rainy then we'll spend it indoors at the museums and
Independence Hall since it's something I'm not going to miss no matter what.

Otherwise a nice day will take us with the wind so to speak.

BUT, if it's sweltering hot like today then I can't really say.

On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:31:19 GMT, "JC" wrote:

Eastern State Penitentiary:
http://philadelphia.citysearch.com/profile/8975478/

And the restaurant Jack's Firehouse, right across the street (Jack McBride,
formerly of the Food Channel's "Grillin' and Chillin"...). Really excellent,
plus the best selection of bourbons outside Kenticky...

-- Larry

On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 01:09:58 GMT, "Who Turned Off The Lights?"
wrote:

Hello. We'll be visiting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for business this Friday
but will have all day Saturday and part of Sunday free to sight-see.

I know I should be visiting Independence Hall and whatever Historical Sights
must be in that part of town.

But....anything else? Anything I should make sure I don't miss seeing before
heading back home to NYC?

NOTE: something cool outside of Philly but not too far would be really nice
though. I already checked for caverns in PA and what I'd found were too far
away.

Any suggestions appreciated. :-)

Barnes Museum but you have to make advance reservations

On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 16:29:10 GMT, "pantagruel"
wrote:

There are several things around Independence Hall, i.e., Carpenters Hall,
etc. If you can ,walk around the corner and eat lunch at the City Tavern. It
is operated ( and owned, I believe) by the National Parks department. They
serve period food and the dishes are copies of period dishes (not real
pewter, of course) and the waitstaff is dressed in period clothing. We went
there and the food was good and very interesting. It is not corny as you
might suspect but a decent restaurant with decent prices. BTW, City Tavern
is where the movers and shakers of that time period would go for beer.

I agree, we had a very nice meal there. Also, in the winter you can
just sit in front of the fireplace and order something hot to drink,
just as the 18th century movers and shakers used to do.

--
Barbara Vaughan

My email address is my first initial followed by my last name at libero dot it.

Shawn Hirn wrote:
In article ,
B wrote:

On Tue, 18 Jul 2006 07:32:33 GMT, Pan wrote:

Has the Franklin Institute been renovated recently? I went there about
10 years ago and was disappointed that while it had the same exhibits
I enjoyed when I was a kid about 37 years ago, many of them weren't
working and it almost seemed like they hadn't been maintained since
the 70s.

I had the same impression the last time I was there. It's really a
shame; it could be a great museum.

I was just at the Franklin Institute two weeks ago. There's a lot to see
and do there. The biology wing was recently remodeled and there's a new
heart exhibit. For anyone who is into science and technology, a visit to
the Franklin Institute will be enjoyable.

I haven't seen it yet, but the Franklin Institute has a temporary
exhibit all about animation that looks very interesting. The web site at
http://www.fi.edu/ has lots of information for those who are interested
in the Franklin Institute.

If you like aquariums, there is the one directly across the river in
Camden, NJ http://www.njaquarium.org/index.html.

Carol
Editor - Lowfares.com
http://www.lowfares.com

"Maisie" wrote in message
oups.com...

If you like aquariums, there is the one directly across the river in
Camden, NJ http://www.njaquarium.org/index.html.

Thanks

Although I'm all too happily finished with my trip, perhaps I'll consider
your suggestion for a future visit (for Jersey that is?).

In retrospect, I wish I'd never ventured upon it. I went there originally
for the sake of seeing and reviewing the Cirque's Quidam performance there,
which was nothing to brag about. That is, after already seeing Corteo (which
was nothing much) and Varekai which is according to us the show to measure
all others against! Yet of course we're awaiting a local performance of
Allegria which just might outdo Varekai.

The traffic in Philly was abominable as was the attitude of many of the
folks we'd come across within (as if they were ****ed off to be living
there...much like that which you'd think tourists would expect of NYC which
couldn't be far from the truth!...since folks here in NYC are quite
pleasant!).

Soooo, in truth, Philly was horrible. With terrible attitudes and services
to match, I came back anxiously!

The architecture were quite the beaut and Valley Forge is maybe the only
thing which I'd return to visit (perhaps in Autumn).

BTW, South Street was refreshing as well. Although the weather was
horrendous, we'd welcome the oppoturnity of revisiting this area as well in
the future. Beyond this? Nothing else!