I managed to fit a lot into a weekend in Philly, so with apologies to Bruce Springsteen for that headline, here's the rundown:
Our culinary adventures started, of course, with a cheesesteak at
Cosmi's deli on South 8th Street. We walked into the store and I could sense immediately that this was the real deal.
Sometimes you walk into a place that is somewhat famous and think to yourself "this feels authentic, I can understand the enthusiasm". It was too chilly to eat the cheesesteak outside and there are no tables. However, they kindly brought out a table and some chairs from the back and put them right where the customers order their sandwiches. The steak was incredible, especially great were the mildly hot peppers.
Further down the same street is a wonderful Italian bakery called
Termini's (they actually have a parking lot which is much appreciated in the narrow streets of South Philadelphia) Not only did they have magnificent pastries, they also had some live music and a distinctive old fashioned hammered metal ceiling.
Next stop was the
9th St Italian market, which is several blocks of outdoor produce stalls and indoor food stores such as meat markets. Since many of the vendors are outdoors they have an interesting way of providing heat. Basically, it's a wood fire in a barrel, so they are laying down a significant carbon footprint.We stopped to warm up with some great cappucino and tea at Anthony's Coffee. Nearby there is a large color mural featuring the "colorful "former Mayor F
rank Rizzo.
Dinner was at a unique restaurant called
Victor Cafe. This was suggested to me by a AAA member who was planning a weekend in Philadelphia. The unusual feature of this restaurant is that the wait staff performs opera tunes (and Broadway songs) during dinner. They study music at some of the colleges in Philadelphia such as University of the Arts and Temple University. The food was very good and the pictures of legendary performers on the walls will delight any opera lover.
Our first arts stop was the
Curtis Building at 601Walnut St. Curtis Publishing was the home of such broad-based magazines as
The Saturday Evening Post and
Ladies Home Journal. 'The Dream Garden' is an amazing mural by Maxfield Parrish. Depicting a "vision of utopia", it is comprised of 100,000 pieces of Tiffany glass. The NY Times story notes that Las Vegas hotelier Steve Wynn was looking into buying it for the Bellagio Hotel, but the city of Philadephia managed to rai
se the money to keep it in town. There is also a wonderful fountain at the building's entrance. We went on a Saturday and just made the building closing time of 1pm.
An even more absorbing art experience is
Philadelphia's Magic Gardens. This is a massive work both indoors and outdoors by the artist Isaiah Zanger. Most impressive are the interior rooms wherein the whole room is a variety of mosaics, mirrors and sculptures. Zanger was instrumental in the development of South Philadelphia into a major arts district. Michelle Obama was a recent attendee at the museum
We stayed at the Philadelphia Marriott West in the suburban town of West Conshohocken. Very nice rooms, friendly staff and a really HOT whirlpool.
This location was convenient to our primary goal of the trip, seeing the
Barnes Foundation collection of paintings. It is one of the premier collections of French Impressionist, Post Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings in the world. Dr Albert Barnes amassed a fortune in the pharmaceutical industry in the early 1900's and was a key proponent of some of the new artists who have become the standard bearer's of the art world (Renoir,Cezanne, Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, Van Gogh). The special nature of the museum is the precise juxtaposition of impressionist painting with more traditional masterpieces to create an art history education room by room. The collection is moving in 2012 from its current location in Merion Station to the center of Philadelphia on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
