Thanks for the suggestions, I’m starving now after looking up all this food!

Can’t believe no one has mentioned the Mütter museum of medical oddities

Visit the USS Olympia. The only one of her kind. She carried the first Unknown Soldier. I wish I was a billionaire, I would patch her up.

There's so much to do in town, check out the local paper online, philly.com , for activities weekly.

quote:

Originally posted by Dusty78:
Can’t believe no one has mentioned the Mütter museum of medical oddities

LOL - We went there, I took a picture of a device that was used to retrieve kidney stones - still makes me squeamish .

http://muttermuseum.org/

Takes a while, but interesting.

quote:

Originally posted by ShouldBFishin:

quote:

Originally posted by Dusty78:
Can’t believe no one has mentioned the Mütter museum of medical oddities

LOL - We went there, I took a picture of a device that was used to retrieve kidney stones - still makes me squeamish .

When I was there, no camera policy.

quote:

Originally posted by Captain Morgan:
Visit the USS Olympia. The only one of her kind. She carried the first Unknown Soldier. I wish I was a billionaire, I would patch her up.

While you're there, you can go check out the Moshulu, which is the ship in Godfather 2 that young Vito Corleone came to America on.

It's a restaurant now. http://www.moshulu.com/

I would just walk around if I were you. Start around Pine Street and walk toward City Hall.

Here are a few destinations not mentioned yet:

University of Penn’s Anthropology Museum. It’s one of the finest archeology & anthropology museums in the world, the only others rivaling it are London & Cairo’s. The Egyptian exhibit is supposed to close for 5-6 years for renovation (yes, it’s that big) starting on July 10.

Buddakan is a cool Thai joint for dinner if you’re visiting with friends.

Take a stroll on South street in Old Town, kind of like Philly’s version of Venice Beach, at night.

If you’re willing to drive 45 minutes or so, one of the best gardens in the U.S. is Longwood Gardens, which you could easily spend half a day touring.

Have fun in Philly!

quote:

Originally posted by Dakor:
Here are a few destinations not mentioned yet:

University of Penn’s Anthropology Museum. It’s one of the finest archeology & anthropology museums in the world, the only others rivaling it are London & Cairo’s.

Their Egyptian artifacts are indeed impressive. It had to be no small feat to move some of the larger stone objects from Egypt to their location on South Street. Their collection of clay tablets, most of which are not displayed, has to be one of the best in the world.

If you have time and are interested in Colonial History, have a meal at the City Tavern, 138 South 2nd Street at Walnut Street.

https://www.citytavern.com/city-tavern-timeline/

Battle ship New Jersey.

Reading Terminal food court for every type of dessert under the sun, through lunch that is. I went to a big conference in 2017 next to it and must have gained a pound a day. I was busy so that's about all I could take in.

But, the Science History Institute's museum is quite nice, as I'm a scientist and recently had a meeting there.

There's always an ICE rally you can attend...

Went took a little mini vacation last year to Philly and crammed a lot into a few days.

My recommendations:
Take one of the open air double decker bus tours. You'll learn a lot from that.

Reading Terminal Market is a great place to eat. Lots of cool food vendors.

Eastern State Penitentiary was great to tour and explore.

I'd skip the Mutter museum. It was so CROWDED you could barely look at anything. The content was ok, but unless you are in the medical field, you might be a little bored.

The mint was fun to tour, just be mindful of the times. I believe we went during lunch and it seemed they pretty much shut down for lunch as they really were not minting anything.

Liberty Bell and Independence Hall of course was a must see. Be prepared for semi-airport style security though.

A lot of people will say Pat's and Geno's are touristy and to try whatever other places for a Cheesesteak. While I'm sure they are not the best and they are a little touristy, it was definitely worth it to visit. I mean you are a tourist, why not do the touristy thing? I wasn't disappointed. We tried both places for lunch and they both were great! Just remember to bring cash. No cards.

Enjoy your trip!

Chris

City Tavern is a nice place to eat.

www.citytavern.com

The Philadelphia Zoo used to be awesome. Perhaps someone can update, as it has been years since we were there.

Wanted to thank everyone again for the suggestions.

Since we were tourists we had the tourist cheesesteaks at Genos, Pats, Sonnys and Jims with Jims being the best.

The pork sandwich was fantastic at DiNic's, Reading Market was awesome as a whole as well. The Italian food at Villa Di Roma was unbelievable. Didn't really care for City Tavern, food was meh but the decor was cool. We love the show Always Sunny in Philadelphia so went to Mac's Tavern which is owned by 'Mac' and 'Dee'. They had some really good bar food and local beers on tap.

I wanted to try a few other places suggested but they had a lot of seafood which my wife is allergic to.

The history of the city is awesome and glad so much was persevered.

Glad you made it out. My last South Philly food visit, maybe 6 years back, I went with Geno's, and did a second identical order. Jim's was last in 2010 or so. Pat's, maybe in the '90s.

Villa Di Roma perhaps the late '90s?

City Tavern, never, but the food and beer is supposed to be authentic.

Friday night I came off a week-long job which left my larder bare, and tried a spot I'd been passing for decades. A Greek pizzeria in a formerly solid Jewish neighborhood (lots of businesses still there, lots of Hebrew signs). And went with the standard. First a small plain pizza. Then a pizza steak. Could have used a bit more sauce on the sandwich but still, the common theme of a great steak shop was evident.

It's all in the bread.

Note: I enjoy most pizza joints in a style learned from a high school friend. Without beverage. It makes me eat more slowly.

If you want a beer or cheap drinks and don't mind dive bars, go to the legendary Dirty Frank's. Note it's cash only.

Dirty Frank's

Dirty Frank's Yelp Reviews

The Art Museum, the Art Museum Annex and the Rodin Museum. The two day pass to all three is $20.

The Spanish American Warship, the USS Olympia, and the WW2 submarine, the USS Becuna, are fun visits. The Battle ship USS New Jersey and the Camden Aquarium are across the Delaware River in New Jersey.

For food I'd recommend the Parc French Restaurant on Rittenhouse Square.

-Tom