When my friend Olivier came to visit a couple years ago, he was surprised to see how beautiful and active Center City Philadelphia was. He thought American cities were all like downtown L.A.: places where people work before going home in the suburbs. In Philly, you want to live in the pretty and lively downtown. It has the charm of historical neighhorhood and the class of modern architecture. Sneak peeks…
Philadelphia’s 9,200-acre Fairmount Park is one of the largest city parks in the world.
With 215 miles of scenic trails, you can run, hike, mountain bike, horse back ride, roller-blade, even golf… or simply find a quiet spot of green grass and throw your blanket for a picnic and lazy afternoon…
Which one will you go for?
Of course there are numerous legends on how the Eastern State Penitentiary is a haunted place… and that does not prevent it from being one of my favorite place to take visitors, au contraire!
A few facts, from Wikipedia: “The Eastern State Penitentiary is considered one of America’s most historic former prisons open from 1829-1971. Its revolutionary system of incarceration was the first to establish the policy of solitary confinement, emphasizing principles of reform rather than punishment. Notorious criminals such as bank robber Willie Sutton and Al Capone were held inside its unique wagon wheel design. When the building was erected it was the largest and most expensive public structure ever constructed, quickly becoming a model for more than 300 prisons worldwide.”
Today, the Eastern State Penintentiary can be visited daily and host swanky events like “Terror behind the wall” around Halloween or a reenactment of the storming of the Bastille on July 14.
Selection of French beers at Le Bec Fin - Beer Week 2009
With a line-up that featured over 50 of the biggest names in brewing and 679 successful events, Philly Beer Week (PBW) 2009 held in March became the country’s largest celebration of beer event, in only its second year.
From what I noticed, in March, there are 2 ways of showing your love for beer in Philadelphia: the Erin Express way… a stroll from bar to bar, drinking cheap beer and where what matters is quantity; and the Beer Week way, a journey through a wide variety of beer tasting and their pairing with food, here, what matters is quality.
In 2010, Philly Beer Week will be moving from March to June, which I believe is a good thing: warmer weather and no confusion possible with St Patrick’s day and it’s crowd of Miller Lite drinkers.
So wether you’re a beer novice, like a I was last March, or a connoisseur, save the date: June 4 to 13 2010!