A year in Philadelphia

Philadelphia is a medium sized city that's fortunately very walkable. Its main attraction is being the cradle of independence and so it exploits its historic sites, buildings, museums and bell. But the simple pleasures lie in walking its alleys, taking in the architecture, experiencing its array of foreign food and exotic restaurants, and visiting the less known attraction sites such as Edgar Allan Poe's house or the Penitentiary.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Walking. Public transport (buses and trains are great).

This place looks like french indochine. It's a very classy place with banana coloured ceilings, wooden floors, tropical plants and wooden blinds, making it as relaxing as beautiful and impeccably clean. Food is fantastic (whatever you order), well-sized, exquisitely presented, and never expensive. My favourites are the raw flank steak as appetizer, spicey salt chicken and sautee beef for entree, and sticky rice with tao root for dessert. Don't forget your plum wine and the vietnamese coffee with condensed milk... yummm!

Belgian beer and fries are a must here, but if you want my personal recommendation, try the mussels. Yes the steak sandwich is good but... try the mussels!

Coffee's good and dessert is a rare treat because more often than not, I was quite satisfied and could not eat a bite more by the time for dessert.

First off, I'm recommending this for breakfast/brunch. But come early and sign yourself in, then be prepared to wait for a very long time to be seated. Happily the wait happens in a nice terrace and you have access to complimentary coffee. And the food inside is well worth the wait. Magnificent waffles and french toast and eggs and sandwiches and.... yumm... come try it, and come hungry.

Being Mexican i always cringe when someone tells me they had fantastic Mexican food... in Taco Bell (pfft!).

But Tequila's is the real deal, authentic as they come, delicious, beautifully and generously served, all amid a bustling ambience and good fun. They don't go easy on the hot sauces either, so if you're looking for spicy food this is the place.

Their beautiful murals reminisce day of the dead artwork by Posada, while the huge chandelier in the hall gives it a grand look complemented with the rich drapes.

Good for lunch or dinner, for watching sports in their bar, or for celebrating... last year we spent New Year's Eve there, and not only had a magnificent dinner but a memorable blast.

You get to see how things work in nature, in physics, in the human body... it has fantastic activities and showrooms, good for all ages. I went there by myself and had the time of my life playing with everything. The planetarium is also fantastic.

It's located at Logan Circle, near the Please Touch Museum and the Academy of Natural Sciences, and not far from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

This place was an example in criminal correctionals around the world in its time. It has a star shaped structure with all solitary cells down the long corridors. Come to learn the story of the building and the system and see art shows in the cells or just tour the premises for the impressive architecture. http://www.easternstate.org/ (215) 236-3300

What are you looking for? Chances are if it's got anything to do with food, it'll be here. If you cook and are looking for that weird spice, kitchen item, seafood, special whatever, just come and spend a few minutes wandering around. You'll find exactly what you were looking for, you probably also bought a baked good to munch on, a flower bouquet for the tabletop, and some fruity jam for your mum. Just amazing....

All ritz theaters are clean and well-kept, and they offer coffee and baked goodies as well as regular candy and sodas. But the best part is the films they show and the people it attracts.

They aim to play films which will appeal to people who like cinema, not mainstream blockbusters. They always show a variety of foreign and independent films that portray people and experiencea in ways that bear a reasonable relationship to the way life is lived, or which possess elements of artistic merit or provide an entertainment based on adult wit...

Ritz 5
214 Walnut Street
(Between 2nd and 3rd Streets)

Ritz at the Bourse
400 Ranstead Street
(On Fourth Street between Market and Chestnut)

Ritz East
125 South 2nd Street
(Between Chestnut and Walnut Streets, Front and Second Streets)

Since Sept. 11 it's highly guarded, but it offers tours every 15 mins. to the inside of Independence Hall. The furniture displayed on the first floor is not authentic because British troops burned the originals for firewood. A draft of the original Constitution is on permanent display.

Erected as the Pennsylvania State House, it was restored in 1830 and again in 1950. Today, it more closely resembles its original 1776 appearance, when the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

You get to visit a few different rooms, ie, a court, an assembly room, etc. and though the interior is rather modest, it still retains a dignified air.

Across from the hall sits the Liberty Bell in its own pavillion. The original bell was ordered from an English foundry in 1751 to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of William Penn's 1701 Charter, which spoke of the rights and freedoms of all people. Its most fateful ringing, in the steeple of the State House (now Independence Hall), was on July 8, 1776, when it summoned citizens to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. That famous crack, widely attributed to flaws in its casting and caused by a stroke of the clapper, grew bigger every time it was rung. In 1846, the Liberty Bell was moved to Independence Hall; the pavilion opened in 1976, and will be replaced by one next to the new Independence Visitor Center in late 2002-early 2003.

And across market street is the visitor's center which gives out free info on things to see and do.

While I was there they had a lights and sound show going on at night touring center city's main buildings, but don't know if that's still going on. You can also take a tour on a trolley if walking is not your thing.

While living in Philadelphia, Poe wrote "The Purloined Letter," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Tell-Tale Heart," among other works. This historical site is on what used to be one of his many homes. None of the furniture remains but they make the best they can with what they know and what they've been able to reconstruct. The staff is very well prepared and completely into his life and work.