I had been planning to go to philadelphia since, oh...august. So when I turned in my finalest of finals on friday, I took myself and my newly-incurred sense of post-semester levity down to 88 East Broadway and hopped on a twelve dollar bus going to philly. One of my oldest and most dear friends in the whole wide world is a brilliant firecracker of a woman named Sarah, who's studying historic preservation at Penn. She and I walked all over the city on friday night, and I had my first real philly cheese steak just after watching a friend of one of sarah's friends get arrested for urinating in public. The next day Sarah and I ate ribs for breakfast at a food festival we stumbled into. Ah, vacation.
I absolultely love that city, though. I had never been before, and was astounded to see how, despite its being a major american city, it still feels like a small town. In that sense, it was a diametrically different experience from being in NYC. I also got to hang out with two of my other friends who live in philly, and I ate some really incredible food at this restaurant that boasts "eclectic south american cuisine." I went to a party with some really fun activist kids (who work with a friend of mine at Design for Social Impact), walked a ridiculous amount, hung out in a super-posh apartment building where one friend resides, and generally just kicked it around town.
The real highlight of the trip, though, was not only seeing sarah but having her take me on a tour of the site where she works as an intern doing historic preservation: the ultra-creepy abandoned prison known as Eastern State Penitentiary. I can't even begin to describe how cool this was. The only thing that might possibly come close is if you've ever played Castlevania for the old NES. Anyways, it was great to see Sarah and all the good times philly has to offer. I'll definitely be going back.
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If you didn't have a chance when you were there, check out Manayunkin the NW suburbs of Philadelphia next go around. With South Street providing the edgy, anything can happen atmosphere, a wacky mixing bowl of all kinds of ingredients and Manayunk tailoring to a quieter, upscale-but still somewhat wacky locale (i.e. Cadillac Tattoos, etc), I got my RDA of all the essential vitamins and minerals when I lived out there. I seriously considered ditching the corporate apartment 15 minutes away from work and moving to there to face a 30-60 minute commute.
And look for the Mutter Museum in the College of Physicians (if you don't know it's there, you'll never see it). Last time we went they were hosting an exhibit on infectious disease! Woo hoo! (And if you go to Manayunk as Logan575 suggests, find Kadillac, because a crazy muppet of a guy named Cosmo with gold teeth and tattoos up his neck did tattoos on both Logan and me!)
I've never been to Philly but it sounds great. Sign me up for the "Bed, Breakfast & Prison" package!
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