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They don’t call it the city of brotherly
love for nothing. Find out what Philly has to offer you.
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By Art Spikol
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 They
say it takes time to feel at home in a strange environment.
In Philadelphia, it should take about a week. The city is a
delightful mixture of large and small, it’s a metropolis
with everything a big city can offer, but it’s also a neighborhood
wherever you happen to hang your jeans. You’ll find wonderful
choices in both environments. Take something as ordinary as
food. In Philadelphia, it’s not ordinary. There are more
good restaurants per capita here than anywhere on the planet.
The Zagat Survey found 700 worth mentioning; Esquire named one
of them, Striped Bass, the best in the country. As used to be
the case with Broadway shows, it’s hard to imagine a cuisine,
however ethnic or quirky or newly imported or invented, that
doesn’t get a Philly tryout. And if you like hoagies and
cheese steaks, watch that waistline. Ours are the best. But
what’s to do between meals? In the arts, Philadelphia is
undergoing a renaissance that's transformed and rejuvenated
a considerable stretch of South Broad Street into The Avenue
of the Arts.
That’s the location of the famous Academy of Music, the
University of the Arts, The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and several other arts
institutions and theaters, plus some of the city’s finest
hotels.
The Pennsylvania Ballet, Philadelphia Opera Company and Penn.
Academy of Fine Arts are here, and so are plenty of theaters,
galleries, jazz clubs, poetry readings and more. Plus rarities
like the Rosenbach Museum and its collection of rare manuscripts
(James Joyce’s Ulysses, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
and others) are equally astonishing.
The student population adds its own spin to the dynamic of the
city, something you can see most distinctly on South Street,
“the hippest street in town”, block after block of
boutiques, bookstores, record stores, restaurants, clubs and
hangouts, all of them seemingly targeted at one age group. Yours.
 Of
course, opinions are strongly held in such an environment, so
bring plenty with you. Example: When a statue of Rocky was installed
in front of the revered Philadelphia Museum of Art for the film,
Stallone suggested making it permanent. The rags-to-riches story
resonated with Philadelphians, Rocky was the perfect hero for
a city with an anonymity complex, but what constitutes art is
not subject to a vote by movie-goers, and the art establishment
KO’d the idea. Rocky was carried off to a less exalted
spot, a sports palace called the Spectrum.
Of the city’s 100-plus museums, some of the most notable,
like the above-mentioned art museum, are on the Benjamin Franklin
Parkway, the design of which was inspired by the Champs-Elysees.
Here you’ll find the Rodin Museum (the largest collection
of the sculptor’s works outside Paris); the Academy of
Natural Sciences, one of the most fascinating such institutions
anywhere, containing animals living and departed (marvelous
and rare historic examples of the taxidermist’s art); dinosaurs;
a live butterfly house; a huge mineral collection; fishes; insects
and more; and the Franklin Institute with its famous Fels Planetarium,
full-sized locomotive, walk-through human heart, and scientific
and technological exhibits and demonstrations, many of them
operable by visitors.
Philadelphia encompasses Fairmount Park, the largest landscaped
park in the country at 4,180 acres, all of it in the city. It’s
the granddaddy of all municipal parks. A river runs through
it - the Schuylkill (pronounced SKOO-kill by most locals), the
banks of which include some of the flattest and prettiest jogging
and biking paths anywhere, an 8.6-mile loop that starts and
ends at the art museum. The park, largely unchanged over the
past century; is also the home of the college rowing crews and
regattas, and under one of the river’s bridges you can
see where Thomas Eakins painted his sculling studies. The crew
boathouses, quaint Victorians outlined with decorative lights,
show their reflections in the river, a treat for commuters driving
the Schuylkill Expressway. The Mann Center for the Performing
Arts features headliners in concerts under the stars. Fairmount
Park is so big, some folks don’t even know when they’re
in it; you can walk it all day and still miss the Philadelphia
Zoo, oldest in the country, itself big enough to get lost in.
There’s another river - the Delaware. Its waterfront at
Penn’s Landing offers many tourist attractions and celebrations,
often in context with national holidays and fireworks as well
as restaurants, museums, chili cook-offs, outdoor dancing, light
shows and the chance to say hello to passengers and crew from
faraway places whose ships dock right here.
Of course, Philadelphia has history. Lots of it. Suffice it
to say that one of the greatest experiments in democracy —
not exactly a pizza chain - started here, so the Liberty Bell,
Independence Hall and other treasures and landmarks are where
you can see them, in the middle of Old City. You’ll find
Elfreth’s Alley here, the oldest residential street in
the country in continuous use. Walk through the Old City area
and you’ll cover the same sidewalks, tread the same cobblestones
and cross the same streets as did the signers of the Declaration
of Independence.
Philadelphia is also a city of neighborhoods and ethnic enclaves
waiting to be discovered. Take South Philadelphia’s Italian
Market — block after block of stalls and pushcarts and
small shops that, started by immigrants, haven’t changed
much since the beginning of the 20th century.
The prices and selection are often incredible, drawing shoppers
and gourmet cooks from all around the city. On a good day you
might get 12 ears of corn or three pounds of grapes for a buck.
Philadelphia’s terrific, but suppose you want to get off,
really far off, campus? Fortunately we’re centrally located.
Never seen an ocean? The Atlantic’s shore resorts are an
hour or so away. Want to go skiing? Hit the Pocono Mountains.
Do day trips to New York, Baltimore and the nation’s Capitol,
or to Pennsylvania Dutch Country and the flea markets around
Adamstown. And if you want to see Europe, just stand in the
surf on the Jersey shore on a clear day and squint slightly.
But what students really come to Philadelphia for is an education,
and you’ll find one here that’s unparalleled —
no matter what you want to study. The city’s educational
institutions and its programs are a magnet for developing intellects,
and graduates often stick around to make their mark. That’s
no accident, Philadelphia is not just a great place to study,
it’s a great place to live.
So learn about us, get on the Internet and check out some of
the action we’ve described and whatever else makes your
pulse beat faster.
You’ll find it in Philly.
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