Things to do in or around Philly PA

adirondackdestroyer

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I'm going to be visting my parents next week who live in Collegeville PA and I will be going to Philly, and have never been before. If anyone on here lives in or near Philly could you list some places to go and some cool places to eat (nothing expensive :laughing: ). Here are the things I am already planning on doing:

Touring the Streamlight factory! :rock:
King of Prussia Mall
Lancaster Outlet Mall/Franklin Mills Mall
Liberty Bell
Philadelphia Zoo
Eating at Geno's Cheesesteak

Are there any famous Pizza (or other) restaurants?

Thanks in advance! :)
 
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Flying Turtle

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Re: Things to do in or around Phili PA

Birthplace of Flying Turtle (Bryn Mawr Hosp.). :laughing: We moved when I was one, so I never knew the area.

Geoff
 

adirondackdestroyer

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Re: Things to do in or around Phili PA

Thanks for the replies... anyone else have anything to add?
 

Solstice

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Re: Things to do in or around Phili PA

If you are into history/politics at all, you could check out the Constitution Center- it's way less boring than it sounds ;). Good multimedia presentation involving a live actor, interactive exhibits, and "signer's hall" at the end which has life size bronze sculptures in realistic poses of the men that signed the constitution. One of my best friends and his girlfriend works there.

If you are into any sort of bar scene a nice area near by is "old city." (the area along Market closer to the river and a few blocks north and south). There is a type of place for everyone from the fancy (Steven Starr's Buddakan, Blu Martini, Tangerine) to the chill (Drinker's Tavern, Sugar Mom's, the Kyber). A terrific Cuban resturant with good mojitos and latin dancing after 10-11pm is Cuba Libre on 2nd street. You could also see if there are any concerts scheduled at Penn's landing.

Another fun area is South Street (basically 3rd through 7th on south) with a bunch more fun bars and hip stores. Good pizza can be found at Lorenzo's, which is notorious for it's anti-customer service;) but in a funny way.

If you like art, the Philadelphia Art Museum is excellent and area is quite beautifull. You can do the tourist thing and run up the "Rocky" steps. Not far by are the Franklin Institute (very cool science museum with a giant IMAX movie screen) and the Museum of Natural History (great dinosaur skeletons). Also not so far from this area is the "Mutter" museum, which exhibits some of the strangest human medical anomalies preserved in fermaldehyde- just don't go if you're planning on eating right afterward ;).

Just take some time to walk around- Philly is very approachable on foot and has lots of ethnic neighborhoods with good food, etc. There's also Chinatown (some cool martial arts stores there), the Redding Terminal Italian Market, etc. Hope this helps,
Jon

ps. The abbreviation is "Philly" not "Phili" :).
 

sandbasser

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Re: Things to do in or around Phili PA

adirondackdestroyer said:
I'm going to be visting my parents next week who live in Collegeville PA and I will be going to Phili, and have never been before. If anyone on here lives in or near Phili could you list some places to go and some cool places to eat (nothing expensive :laughing: ). Here are the things I am already planning on doing:

Touring the Streamlight factory! :rock:
King of Prussia Mall
Lancaster Outlet Mall/Franklin Mills Mall
Liberty Bell
Philadelphia Zoo
Eating at Geno's Cheesesteak

Are there any famous Pizza (or other) restaurants?

Thanks in advance! :)

I don't want to start a flame war here; but, Jim's Steaks on South Street makes the BEST cheesesteaks.

I'll also add a strong second for the Wanamaker Organ. It's utterly amazing.
 

adirondackdestroyer

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Re: Things to do in or around Phili PA

Solstice,

Thanks alot for the reply! I will definetly check out the "Mutter Museum". It looks really cool and something I would love to see (always liked Ripley's Believe it or Not). I'll make sure to eat at Lorenzo's as well, and hopefully will be able to see parts of Chinatown. I once saw a show on the Travel Channel about the 10 best places to pig out and one of them was a place that served a MONSTEROUS sized pizza and if you ate it in less than 1 hour it was free. Does anyone know what that place is called or if it even exists? I would love to give it a try!

Thanks alot for your help.

P.S. I changed the spelling... man I feel like an idiot! :laughing:










Solstice said:
If you are into history/politics at all, you could check out the Constitution Center- it's way less boring than it sounds ;). Good multimedia presentation involving a live actor, interactive exhibits, and "signer's hall" at the end which has life size bronze sculptures in realistic poses of the men that signed the constitution. One of my best friends and his girlfriend works there.

If you are into any sort of bar scene a nice area near by is "old city." (the area along Market closer to the river and a few blocks north and south). There is a type of place for everyone from the fancy (Steven Starr's Buddakan, Blu Martini, Tangerine) to the chill (Drinker's Tavern, Sugar Mom's, the Kyber). A terrific Cuban resturant with good mojitos and latin dancing after 10-11pm is Cuba Libre on 2nd street. You could also see if there are any concerts scheduled at Penn's landing.

Another fun area is South Street (basically 3rd through 7th on south) with a bunch more fun bars and hip stores. Good pizza can be found at Lorenzo's, which is notorious for it's anti-customer service;) but in a funny way.

If you like art, the Philadelphia Art Museum is excellent and area is quite beautifull. You can do the tourist thing and run up the "Rocky" steps. Not far by are the Franklin Institute (very cool science museum with a giant IMAX movie screen) and the Museum of Natural History (great dinosaur skeletons). Also not so far from this area is the "Mutter" museum, which exhibits some of the strangest human medical anomalies preserved in fermaldehyde- just don't go if you're planning on eating right afterward ;).

Just take some time to walk around- Philly is very approachable on foot and has lots of ethnic neighborhoods with good food, etc. There's also Chinatown (some cool martial arts stores there), the Redding Terminal Italian Market, etc. Hope this helps,
Jon

ps. The abbreviation is "Philly" not "Phili" :).
 

Mikul

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Re: Things to do in or around Phili PA

I'll second Jim's.
You will never see anything quite like the Mutter Museum.

If you can do the former after the latter (follow that?), you have a strong stomach.

At the risk of another flame war, the best cannollis are at Termani Brothers.
 

Apex007

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A strong third for Jim's on South, much preferred over Pat's & Geno's. Plus there's other stuff to walk around and see after you get your steak.
 

bfg9000

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Re: Things to do in or around Phili PA

FRANKVZ said:
If you've never been to a Cabelas store before, I visited this one while working near Philly. Its pretty cool.

http://cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ...amburg/hamburg.html&cm_re=retail*left*hamburg

Here are photos from inside that store:
Picture248.jpg

Picture252.jpg


Note the way-cool Coleman gas lantern converted to overhead lighting for the tables in the restaurant.

There are lots of places to get good Steaks in Philly. Rick's in the Reading Terminal Market is being sued by Pat's for mentioning Pat in its advertising (founder Rick is the grandson of Pat) and the product is substantially the same.

And you have to get advance reservations to see the US Mint there.
 

raggie33

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teach all the racoons ya can find to steal philly cheesesteaks and well thats what i would do if i was there but im very hungry
 

cutlerylover

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Hmmm, Im not sure how far you want to travel because its a couple of hours north of philly but Bradford, PA is where the Zippo factory is, and they have a great visitors center there! But...if your not into zippos that much its not worth the drive because thats pretty much the only fun thing there...besides a great mexican resturant...
 

h2xblive

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It's a late post, but how does one go about setting up a tour with the Streamlight factory?
 

nerdgineer

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You really should see the Barnes Museum about 30 miles out from Philly. It is one of the most amazing and best kept secrets of the art world: a world class museum of French Impressionist art (Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Matisse, Manet, Monet, Seurat and on and on) hidden away near Bryn Mawr. The quality and quantity of the art collection is unbelievable, better IMHO than the Louvre's.

It's pretty cheap, but you have to get reservations way in advance because their parking space is limited. Check the website above.

I am an engineer and not into art, and it blew me away nonetheless.
 

LukeA

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Try to stay off the Schuylkill Expressway whenever possible.

I saw two people get married at a Cabela's once. Really.
 

chanamasala

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The Barnes Art Collection is great.

Lorenzo's pizza. The one at the Italian Market.

If you like beer there are two Belgium Bar/Restaurants downtown that are good. Monk's and Eulogy.
 

adirondackdestroyer

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Someone must have brought this one back from the dead, because I posted this thread FOREVER AGO!!!

I've since gone to Philly a few times to visit my parents, and have done some of the things people on here recommended.
I used to go to Rita's Italian Ice all the time as a kid, but I had a Polish Water Ice in Philly and it was so much better!
 

m16a

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Someone must have brought this one back from the dead, because I posted this thread FOREVER AGO!!!

I've since gone to Philly a few times to visit my parents, and have done some of the things people on here recommended.
I used to go to Rita's Italian Ice all the time as a kid, but I had a Polish Water Ice in Philly and it was so much better!

Oops, I really ought to read the post time stamps on these things.. Oh well, it was worth a shot.. :crackup:
 
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