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The seclusion and serenity of The Wissahickon. Biking along Forbidden Drive/Kelly Drive and along West River Drive especially April thru October when it is closed to cars. The Italian Market. South Philly! Especially the canopies of colorful lights that cross over the tiny streets every Christmas. The cobblestone streets, stone houses and hilly tree lined roads in Chestnut Hill, Mt Airy, Germantown. In fact I love how the entire Northwest is built of smaller towns incorporated into the city like Manayunk, which is so unique from anywhere else in the city. The human scale and vibrancy of Center City and how CC itself continues to grow and expand. University City and Spruce Hill, Parkside Drive and going to a concert at The Mann. Northern Liberties Fishtown and free concerts at The Piazza (Matt and Kim/Tegan and Sara on Sat!). The various ethnic groups that each have their proud history and mark on the city and continue to make it their own. The food-both our large native food and our lively restaurant scene, the byob/beerandbrew culture/pub scene, The Quaker culture and wide acceptance of Mary Jane, LGBT. The honesty, originality and realness of residents. The murals, sculptures and public artwork that permeate the city. The Mummers, The Manayunk Bike Race, The Dad Vail, Army-Navy, sports culture in general. The architecture, affordability and location.
I just moved to Philadelphia on the 7th of this month, but there are so many things I love about it already. Perhaps I'll break it up into things I've experienced, against things I wish to experience.
Things I Love:
Walking out of my front door and seeing City Hall to the right and the Art Museum to my left
The University of Pennsylvania (my school) and all the beautiful architecture and glorious libraries.
Locust Walk
The restaurants! Japanese, Lebanese, Greek, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Burmese, Vietnamese, ETHIOPIAN!! Philadelphia has everything! Too bad the best Korean restaurants are up north.
On that topic, the H-Mart near Elkins Park/West Oak Lane. I wish it were closer!
The great diversity and all the unique neighborhoods
SEPTA: I've only used it a few times, but I love having the option. They have great coverage out to the more suburban areas and the city itself has a lot of great transportation options for getting places outside of city limits.
The walkability! This is the reason I haven't used SEPTA. Philadelphia reminds me of Rome in this way.
The Mint Building at Community College of Philadelphia and those brick buildings across the street. Gorgeous!
Walking through city hall. I love that you can do this and I love the idea of filling the arches with books in glass cases.
Reading Terminal Market: I love being able to have this choice and some nice places to pick up fresh seafood as well. I haven't tried them yet, but I sure will. I am craving myself some tempura. The market has a lot of great sweet places and I happen to love myself some pretzels. The addition of the Amish shops is great too. Also, the olive oil tasting place. Nice produce places as well.
Chinatown! I find myself going here almost everyday... I love all the Chinese bakeries and all the places you can get bubble tea. Delicious pork buns, egg tarts, cakes, etc. Dirt cheap prices! The supermarkets in Chinatown where I can pick up giant bags of rice and things like goch.ujang (this got censored with asteriks for some reason), doubanjiang, Milky, Hello Panda, tons of delicious teas, and so much more. They are so much fun to explore. Great restaurants with delicious Peking Duck. I love Sang Kee and their delicious plum sauce and hoisin sauce. I could drink that plum sauce. I love the way it makes the spring rolls melt in your mouth. I love the restaurants with the tanks of live seafood in them. I love the beautiful sidewalks and I love the size of the streets and how it is always the busiest area around where I live.
The Comcast Center: I love going here, as it is right behind my place. I love Sook Hee's produce and the miniature Di Bruno Bros. I love the quality I find at Sook Hee's and the fact that I can get kimchi steps from my place. I had to take multiple buses for hours to get kimchi in the last place I lived.
I love Di Bruno Bros. Holy! This place is a dream.
The proximity to things such as Whole Foods, Di Bruno Bros, Chinatown, and much more. It makes it convenient for shopping.
The amount of fountains: I love fountains and Philadelphia seems to have a good amount. Too bad none of them are running. I can't wait until this place is full green!
The amount of city parks and the amount of parks that take you away from feeling like you're in the city.
The progressiveness of the city.
The fact that the city is progressing itself.
Did I mention the diversity?
How nice everybody seems to be. Almost everybody here is extremely courteous and quite pleasant. I've heard so many things about the people in Philadelphia and none of it seems to be true. So many people have gone out of their way to help me with things and the taxi drivers are even nice! I love the small businesses and the connections you can make with the owners. For instance, Sook Hee allows me to call her and put in requests for anything Korean I shoul want. Several other places have extended this sort of service as well. It beats the big box store service I've been stuck with living in the Michigan suburbs.
The History: It is everywhere
The "park in the sky" and other park and trail projects that are ongoing: I love that Philadelphia is pushing forward with this and embracing something that I feel is so central to the identity and origin of the city.
The amount of ice cream and frozen yogurt places. I need to visit Franklin Fountain soon and I'm waiting for Rita's to open so I can get myself some frozen custard. I do miss frozen custard.
Hell, the amount of places for sweets, period. I need to visit some of those penny candy shops.
Things I can't wait to check out
The Barnes Foundation: It houses my favorite kind of art and it is something I've always wanted to visit. I finally have the chance now and I can't wait to.
The Art Museum: I was going to go on Monday, yet I was busy and couldn't. I definitely will be going the first Sunday of February.
The H-Mart out in West Philadelphia by Cobb's Creek. This one is far cheaper to get to and I hope I like it as much as the one up north.
South Philadelphia: I haven't really been able to explore this area yet. The Italian market was on my "Top 5 things I want to do in Philadelphia" list, and yet I have not been yet. I want to see the market, check out the murals, go to the Di Bruno Bros there, and seriously check out D'angelo Brothers. Are you kidding me? Have you seen their sausage list? Their roasts? Their game meats? Ostrich, boar, buffalo, rabbit, frog, alligator, and more? I'm just hoping the quality is as good as their products sound. I have a feeling it will be. I also want to explore what the Vietnamese have to offer in the area as well. Perhaps some Mexican fare as well?
The Cheese shops: I have no been to a single dedicated cheese shop since I've been here. I should accomplish this very soon.
The Polish: My mother is of Polish ancestry and I grew up eating a lot of Polish cooking. I'm happy to see various Polish things strewn about in the various butcher shops and supermarkets, but I want to go Poland central. I hear Port Richmond is good for that and I'm hoping to go check it out for myself.
Castor Ave: I like the sound of all the Brazilian markets up there, as well as a lot of other diversity. Sounds like my kind of place.
The parks: I haven't been to Fairmount yet but cannot wait. I also want to go to the Japanese garden there and the zoo. I want to go to Pennypack Park and whatever the giant park north of Fairmount is. I want to go to the wildlife refuge by the airport. I want to take a bus out to Jim Thorpe and ride the train through the state parks. I want to go see the civil war reenactment at places like Neshaminy State Park. I want to see Ridley Creek state park, Bartram's Gardens and so much more. I want to see some waterfalls, as well.
Explore more history and visit all the sites in Old City.
Visit the museums at UPenn.
Go to college and professional sporting events.
Find somewhere to play badminton! I think I can at Penn Park, and they also have a baseball field, tennis courts, etc. I need to find somewhere to play basketball and other sports as well.
Go to Manayunk and the Northwest. It looks quite beautiful up there!
I want to do the Schuylkill River Trail. When I lived in Scotland for the last summer I would do the Fife Coastal path and I found it to be one of the best experiences of my life. I'm hoping this trail is at least half as decent as Fife's. I'm not expecting it to beat it, though.
The Free Library of Philadelphia. It is a pretty site from my roof! I haven't been yet, but I will take myself up there this weekend to get myself a card.
The music: A lot of great pop, jazz, and classical events. Music is a great passion of mine and I am happy to be in a city where there is so much of it; however, I can't help but feel it can't compare to Glasgow.
Morris Arboretum and Longwood Gardens: They both looks stunning!
Unknown Japan Film Series: I love that Japanese movies are put on at the Bellevue for free admission.
The theatres: I love foreign film and I heard that Philadelphia has great venues for them.
The food trucks: I haven't tried them, but I love having them around. The easy access to falafels whenever I want is quite appealing.
The tea rooms: I love my tea and I can't wait to go to a place like The Random Tea Room & Curiosity Shop.
This list is exhaustive... I have about a billion things I love and want to do in Philadelphia, but I can't list them all. I'm madly in love with the city and I feel very at home here. I love that it is only going to get better. The city offers so much choice and there is so much diversity. I don't believe that I will ever find myself bored in Philadelphia. This city is high quality and I'm very happy to be apart of it. I want to get involved with the communities and create a Philadelphia that is always trying to improve itself.
Philadelphia offers the things I love most about life: Art, diversity, food, music, the urban in close proximity to nature, architecture, fountains, public transportation, sports, accessibility, books, and green spaces. Also, a lot of uniqueness, diversity in shopping, diversity in events, diversity in neighborhoods and living choices, and a lot of cafes, bakeries, markets, etc. Again, Philadelphia presents a lot of different options that allows a broad range of people to feel comfortable and find a particular niche to settle into, if that is what you want. As for me? Well, I want to immerse myself in all of it.
OH YEAH! I can't forget to mention that I LOVE the one-way streets!
I just moved to Philadelphia on the 7th of this month, but there are so many things I love about it already. Perhaps I'll break it up into things I've experienced, against things I wish to experience.
The parks: I haven't been to Fairmount yet but cannot wait. I also want to go to the Japanese garden there and the zoo. I want to go to Pennypack Park and whatever the giant park north of Fairmount is.
Wow! Glad you love Philadelphia so much
The park north of Fairmount (I assume you mean the one in the Northwest by Manayunk?) is Wissahickon Park. Great place, and so is Fairmount.
P.S., I believe the Barnes is free the first Sunday of every month as well, but you have to go online a print something out first.
Glad you enjoy the city so much! Spring is great in the city, you'll love it.
Oh my, I didn't know about that. Apparently you have to be there at 12:30 of that day and hope you're one of the first people to get a spot. I will have the number dialed and ready to press "call". Thank you so much for that information.
The park I was speaking of is indeed Wissahickon Park. I dropped myself down inside of it on google maps and it looks lovely. I was wondering about something: Is Fairmount park relatively safe at all times of the day? I know that the northern east bit is bordering on some pretty rough neighborhoods. Do people come and make trouble in certain areas of the park, or do you generally have an isolated feeling? I'm imaging a mix of the two, with it leaning more towards the latter.
I can't wait to experience the city in the spring/summer/fall. I forgot to mention in my posts that I love the weather here. The last three days have been a bit cold/windy, but it seems like next week will be better. My view of Logan Square is nice, but it really is missing the lushness of spring. It is nice to know that I will love the city even more in a few months.
Blast! I forgot the Rodin as well. I don't know how I managed to forget that. That one appears to be free, period. I will be sure to make a donation. There are too many museums in this city to count!
Of course, I'm also excited for the opening of the Chinatown community center which hopefully brings an expansion to the north and bridges over to the isolation that is the North Broad area.
Oh my, I didn't know about that. Apparently you have to be there at 12:30 of that day and hope you're one of the first people to get a spot. I will have the number dialed and ready to press "call". Thank you so much for that information.
The park I was speaking of is indeed Wissahickon Park. I dropped myself down inside of it on google maps and it looks lovely. I was wondering about something: Is Fairmount park relatively safe at all times of the day? I know that the northern east bit is bordering on some pretty rough neighborhoods. Do people come and make trouble in certain areas of the park, or do you generally have an isolated feeling? I'm imaging a mix of the two, with it leaning more towards the latter.
It does border some bad neighborhoods in the Northeast section, but there are always people out and about in Fairmount Park and there usually isn't any trouble. During the day you'll be fine. The Schuylkill River trail doesn't go near those neighborhoods anyways.
Action News - Jim Gardner, the opening theme with the seasonally changing montage, the closing theme "Move closer to the world, my friend. Take a little bit of time. Move closer to the world, my friend, and you'll see".
Action News - Jim Gardner, the opening theme with the seasonally changing montage, the closing theme "Move closer to the world, my friend. Take a little bit of time. Move closer to the world, my friend, and you'll see".
Seriously, how awesome is that?
HAHAHA! Oh yeah!
BTW - Fantastic post Cnote11! You know how to live.
Try El Jarocho at 13th and Ellsworth for seasoned pork tacos and a shrimp burrito and Syrenka at Richmond and Allegheny for potato pancakes and golabki. Krakus Market is across the street for all your Polish goodies.
Have you found the underground market in Chinatown?
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