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Need your Philadelphia and NYC recs!
So excited...I just booked our family vacation to Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York for a family wedding and reunion. April 26 - May 7
We will have 1 maybe 2 days at most in NYC for sightseeing.
The same for PHL.
We are also considering taking DD to Sesame Place since my family lives in Bucks County. Feedback or advice?
What would be your top 3 must sees while you are in either city.
I understand I will need to consolidate and pick an area we will explore for the day in NYC so we are not all over the place.
So what area would be the most bang for our buck?
I have done day trips to NYC before and have covered the Theater District and Lower Manhattan.
It will be my DH's first time back East.
I don't mind repeating things I've seen before.
Sock it to me ladies....and let me know if you need more info.
TIA!
Re: Need your Philadelphia and NYC recs!
I live in and love Philly.
How old is your DD? Off the top of my head for kids - Philadelphia has a great zoo and the Please Touch Museum which in my comprehension is sort of like a child's Mecca.
What kind of things do you enjoy? (museums, history, art & culture, the obscure & weird, shopping, athletic or outdoor activity, etc.)
Are you into food/restaurants? Will you have a sitter or will DD be with you for meals?
Yeah that's right my name's Yauch!
Thank you!
I just posted....
Hi Laptop...
DD is 3.5 and we have a 6 month old DS.
They will both be with us.
Yes to everything you just asked ;-) but we will skip adult-ish museums this trip.
My DH is a musician, we love the weird and obscure.
Athletics not so much (sport teams wise)...and for physical activities, no for this trip since I will have a 8 month old fatty strapped to me.
Total foodies.
You rock.
duh, hello! Also where are you staying?
3.5 sounds perfect for the Please Touch Museum and for the zoo. This could put you in Fairmount (near the Philadelphia Museum of Art - where you can get a great view of the city, run up the steps and get your picture with the Rocky statue without going inside) for lunch/dinner. Fairmount is very kid-friendly restaurant wise. It's small dining room, but if your kids are well-behaved, you might want to try Lemon Hill for dinner (there was a toddler and an infant with their parents in there Saturday night - we went with friends). This is the hottest new spot in my neighborhood.
Angelino's is a nice pizza place with seating (for lunch).
Urban Saloon is a bar but the dining area is somewhat separated and I know my friend's husband takes their kids there sometimes.
Figs (Moroccan) and Trio (Thai) are also excellent and are BYOBs.
Eastern State Penitentiary is in Fairmount as well - you can tour the abandoned prison, the first physical representation of the Quaker ideas of punishment and pentinence in the U.S. Steve Buscemi narrates the audio tour. The Sixth Sense house is also in Fairmount (no entry though).
For Center City - There is the Mutter Museum of medical oddities for weirdness.
If Mr. Musician is interested in acoustic architecture, check out the Kimmel Center during the day, you can ask a docent for an impromptu tour - the way the theater is designed is pretty cool and the walls can be moved for different types of concerts.
My personal weird favorite is this: Isaiah Zagar's Magic Gardens
http://www.phillymagicgardens.org/ The art is fashioned out of mostly found objects, and it is pretty amazing.
A good place for lunch is Reading Terminal Market - if you are there during the week it will be fine but beware on the weekends it can be a zoo and might be slightly overwhelming for a three year old. There is a seating area but it's all counter food that you have to order and then carry to the seating area. For a real Philly taste try the Roast Pork Sandwich with broccoli rabe and provolone at Di Nic's. Flying Monkey for cupcakes. If you wanted table service there is the Down Home Diner.
Or the Magic Gardens put you on South Street, where there are tons of restaurants. Stella Pizzeria, Percy Street Barbeque = kid friendly. Or there is a Whole Foods there were you could put together a great picnic to eat by the Seaport.
If you already have any restaurants that you are interested in, I'll try to give the skinny.
And yes, the Philly ladies are a big help - although we're on the new board format and slightly traumatized at the moment, lol.
Yeah that's right my name's Yauch!
If you have kids then definitely hit up the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. There's also a bus you can hop on near there that takes you to various sites. You can choose where to get off, then hop back on. That would give you a decent amount of flexibility. Of course the typical Philadelphia sites are Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is world class and near to the Rodin museum.
Some of the stranger, but definitely interesting sites in Philadelphia include the Mutter Museum and Eastern State Penitentiary. I love both but like I said - they're a bit out of the usual. Possible a little scary for kids.
I've never been to Philly but as far as NYC goes my top 3 would be to go to the top of the Empire State building, hit Times Square and maybe see a play on Broadway.
As far as food goes, pizza at Adrienne's on Stone St. was fantastic, and for a nice meal I recommend Gordon Ramsay at the London. You need reservations 2 months in advance for that one but he also has Maze inside the London Hotel as well, which is his more casual restaurant. Food was excellent. http://www.gordonramsay.com/mazeatthelondonnyc/
http://adriennespizzabar.com/
Woo hoo!
Thank you thank you thank you!
Laptop...You sound like me when I give recs for when people come here
Festive...I think DH is going to gain 10 pounds eating all the NY Pizza he can in our short trip.
When you get your to-do list straightened out let me know if I can help with logistics, etc.
Yeah that's right my name's Yauch!
There's a LOT of good pizza in The Village and Soho.
In light of your pizza comment, you might want to look into taking Scott's Pizza Tour while you're in NY.
http://www.scottspizzatours.com/
Scott has two walking tours that are 3 hours each. Yes, that would take up a good chunk of time, but lunch would be taken care of and you'd get to see the neighborhoods the tour is in (I think one is Greenwich Village/Soho and the other is Little Italy/Greenwich Village).