Philadelphia - mistakes were made


So first off -- we had a great weekend in Philadelphia.

But yes, mistakes were made and I offer up a few things here I wish we'd done differently -- along with the things that went great.

To do for Philadelphia:

If you're going to King Tut (which is at the Franklin Institute through summer) you definitely want a VIP pass. We got ours with our hotel package. You can also get the VIP pass if you are a member of the museum.

As for the exhibition itself: manage your expectations. There are some incredible items in this show. But there is no giant death mask, and the huge gold sarcophagus isn't Tut's but actually that of the wife of someone else. The text throughout the exhibit leaves a lot to be desired. Read up on the basics before you go, even if it's just the Wikipedia summary. Also, we were very glad we didn't bring the steplad to this. It's very crowded inside and the teens who were in there Saturday generally could be seen sprawled along the walls, in some cases you had to step over them to get to the next galleries. They were bored bored bored. With our VIP passes, we were in and out of the exhibit in under 90 minutes. With no VIP pass, you'll stand in line for a couple hours before getting to the exhibit - or so I'm told. (And kids love lines!)

As per the NY Times 36 Hours in Philadelphia, we were certain to get to John’s Roast Pork before it closes at 3 o'clock sharp. Though too bad it's closed Saturdays. (In the NYT itinerary, the writer goes on Friday afternoon, though I didn't see any mention of the crap-out for Saturdays.)

Instead we went to Tony Luke's which we passed on the way. Stood in the big line for the cheese steak with onions ... and found it only OK, rather bland. I'm sure that's considered blasphemous in some quarters, but sorry guys. Maybe it was an off-day for them or something, but I certainly wouldn't drive all the way out there for that again.

There are tricks involved if you want to see Independence Hall or the Liberty Bell. Independence Hall (the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed,) has a ticketing system like the Statue of Liberty. There are only so many tickets for each day's tours (80 people at a time,) and if you're not there well before noon, you're out of luck, suckas. On Sunday, the ranger said they were gone by 10:30 or so. She said if we'd come back Monday, we'd probably have until noon. (But if it's like the Statue of Liberty, I suppose a noon arrival will get you tickets for the last tour of the day. Also, the tickets for the interior of the Statue of Liberty have been known to disappear within 5 minutes of the 8 a.m. opening time. Seriously, I check on those things for NewYorkology.) The NPS ranger gave us a little sheet to get the Independence Hall tickets in advance, which I'm assuming isn't easy to find on the messy NPS site, so I'll reproduce it here:

TOUR TICKET RESERVATIONS

Call 1-877-444-6777,

1-877-559-6777 (GROUP SALES), or International calls 518-885-3639

or

log on to RECREATION.GOV

for Independence Hall tickets

We also skipped the Liberty Bell after spending only a few minutes in the absurdly long line for security. We walked around toward Independence Hall and realized we could see the bell through the giant glass windows -- though the crack wasn't facing us. So we stood there for a minute and could easily figure out one of the reasons the line was so long. We watched a family walk up, stare at the bell, then the two girls posed for a picture, then the dad took off his coat and went over to pose for a picture, then more shuffling around ... and that was just one family taking their turn at the bell.

We stayed at the Four Seasons, which was a completely awesome hotel. Stunning view overlooking Logan Circle (and a view up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the famous steps from "Rocky.") Can't say enough good stuff about this hotel. Fabulous service (breakfast room service promises to be there within 5 minutes of your requested time -- and it was,) great fitness facility with lots of freebies, L'Occitane bath products in the room. Had drinks and the cheese plate at the hotel's Swann Lounge. Like the hotel itself, it's fancy but not stuffy. With turn-down service, they leave a little card with the next day's weather forecast. And then a guy arrives with a plate of four little chocolates on a plate. Though no wi-fi and the hardline Internet was $10 a day - but super fast. We booked the Pharaoh's Night Package, which starts at $365 and includes a pair of VIP passes and parking. (Not too bad considering even a regular Tut ticket costs $27.50.) The hotel is practically across the street from the Tut exhibit, so we didn't use the car until after we checked out of the hotel on Sunday. (A dozen other hotels offer Tut packages with VIP tickets.)

Had dinner at Bootsie's which was nice, but we had too much of that hotel cheese plate to be real hungry. Lunch the next day was at La Scala a place that was undeservedly empty only because it was across the street from the absurdly packed Steven Starr's Jones. Turns out our restaurant also validated for the parking garage (a block from Independence Hall, enter on 7th Street) so we saved about $15 there. (They validate all day on weekends; weekdays only after 3 p.m.)

And darn it, just because I've outlined what went wrong, let me reiterate that we had a really great time. I just wish we'd done a few things differently to make better use of our time there. The drive took us less than two hours from Brooklyn. It looks like it would be perfectly easy to get around without a car if you opted to take the train down there.

Here are a few more pictures from the trip to Philadelphia.

Labels: philadelphia

- posted by Amy @ 3/26/2007 08:06:00 AM