Philadelphia
 

I just decided last minute to run the Philly marathon next weekend. Anyone live there and have recommendations of stuff to do, places to eat, etc.? I know NOTHING about Philly.

It will just be my husband and me, and we're staying...somewhere downtown? (I think near Rittenhouse Square?) Looking for dinner/drinks Friday night and touristy stuff for Saturday, and dinner Saturday night (bonus points for Italian...gotta carb-load).

http://matadornetwork.com/trips/phot...-magic-gardens

^ this is my favorite place in philadelphia. not too many tourists know about it either. south street in general is a great place to stroll around, and Lorenzo's pizza, down a few blocks from the gardens, is the best I've ever experienced. For Philly cheesesteaks, Jim's is even closer to the gardens. (Side note: the "South Street taco" is a Jim's cheesesteak wrapped in a slice of Lorenzo's...never known anyone able to eat a whole one without throwing up.)

I ditto south street. I dont live there now, but i lived there for 8 weeks a few years ago. Philly is a great city to walk on foot. Independence Hall is a must. We liked doing the naval ship tours on the river. Chinatown was also very cool to walk around in and talk in the sights. There is good shopping out in the burbs. The King-of-Prussia mall is phenomonal, and I'm NOT a mall person in the slightest.

KOP mall is the largest mall in America in regards to space devoted to stores (mall of america is larger, but a lot of the space is devoted to things like the amusement park)
i forget that it's a big deal until visiting relatives all make a point to stop there

If you go to the Independence Hall area, check out the (fairly) new National Constitution Center. Ditto on South Street, especially Jim's Steaks (yum). Also, the Adventure Aquarium in Camden is pretty nice. I *think* you can take a ferry over there from the Philly side of the river - someone correct me if I'm wrong.

P.S. That "South Street Taco" sounds disgusting!

South Street, Independence Mall, the National Constitution Center, the Art Museum, Geno's, Pat's, the Betsy Ross House, the Liberty Bell, and (my personal favorite) the Franklin Institute. FI is aimed at children but adults can certainly enjoy it to, I know I always do. Taking in a movie at the Tuttleman IMAX theater (with a domed screen, it's intense) is always a good time. Pretty much just hit up the touristy places, get a cheesesteak, and eat a soft pretzel from the street vendors.

Oh, no, I just noticed this. My advice would be to avoid South Street unless you could travel in a time machine to the 1980s to mid 1990s. The new cool place to hang out is the Northern Liberties neighborhood, which has many trendy restaurants, bars, and shops. However, the best bet is the traditional tourist destinations of Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and Betsy Ross's House. That part of town, Old City, also has plenty of choices for dining.

Don't feel like you must go to Pat's or (ugh) Geno's for a cheesesteak; any number of sandwich or pizza places offer them. A great place for lunch is Reading Terminal Market, which is like Pike Place Market in Seattle minus flying fish. It's a real crossroads of the community.

The University City area of West Philly has beautiful architecture. You can check out the University of Pennsylvania campus, home to a future ADPi chapter, as well as Drexel's, although the beautiful part around Drexel isn't the school so much as the surrounding neighborhood, Powelton Village.

i wouldn't necessarily avoid south street just because it isn't what it used to be - it's still a fun spot. but how could i have forgotten northern liberties? that's a must for sure, but be careful, because the surrounding neighborhoods can be a bit sketch.

As a Philly cheesesteak connoisseur myself (even though I haven't had one in a while), not every steak/pizza shop in Philly makes the cheesesteaks that Philly is famous for or makes them well. If you can get to Pat's or Geno's (although there are many shops around town), you are sure to get the kind of Philly cheesesteak that people talk about. I'm talking...lots of steak (enough for two sandwhiches really) finely chopped with fried onions, peppers, and whatever you choose, all finely chopped with American cheese cooked in and throughout the steak (added last of course) with mayo on a soft italian roll... I could go for one right now...LOL!

I'm a big fan of the Continental. They have amazing lobster mac-n-cheeze.

I forgot about the Italian restaurants. Hope it's not too late! Near Rittenhouse Square: D'Angelo's, Branzino, Le Castagne, Melograno, Salento. The other side of Broad Street might be better, though. Near the Italian Market are old-school Villa di Roma and Dante and Luigi's; there actually was an attempted Mafia hit in Dante and Luigi's on Halloween 1989. Passyunk Avenue in South Philly has at least a half-dozen Italian restaurants of different kinds. It's in an old Italian neighborhood that's now gentrifying, so the Ave. might be a decent place for an after-dinner stroll as well, but unfortunately the Capogiro gelateria is closed for the season.

Go to Morimoto. Awesome Japanese food with really cool atmosphere! It's near Independance Hall, too.

I missed all of these updates since we left for Philly around 3 on Friday. We ended up eating/drinking at Tria and Village Whiskey, both of which were awesome. And we got cheesesteaks at Jim's on South Street.