Philadelphia at Xmas time

jasonstone · May 18, 2009

Hi all, we've just booked our Xmas holidays and are flying to Philadelphia for 2 weeks.
I've not the faintest clue what there is to see and do in Philadelphia or surrounds and was wondering if anyone had any tips or ideas

we'll be travelling as a family - 2 adults and 2 small kids...
obviously some photo oriented stuff would be nice too

fingers crossed the D400 is released before then

oh yeah i know it'll be freezing cold - but we'll be coming from below freezing here in Switzerland so I'm sure it'll feel a bit warmer than home hehehehe

thanks all

cheers
Jase

Angelo · May 20, 2009

Jase

Philly is a wonderful city chock full of American history. Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross' house.

Fantastic food especially italian, polish and german - make sure you have a Cheese Steak Sandwich

http://www.gophila.com/

http://www.philly.com/

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/travel/10hours.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/cheese-steak-with-attitude/18182.html

jasonstone · May 20, 2009

Angelo wrote:

Jase

Philly is a wonderful city chock full of American history. Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross' house.

Fantastic food especially italian, polish and german - make sure you have a Cheese Steak Sandwich

Thanks will check the sites out - I'll be looking for American or TexMex when I'm there I think and will look forward to a philly steak

cmason · May 20, 2009

A short car ride out of town is a beautiful spot for Xmas photos: Longwood Gardens. It's Christmas decorations are stunning.

There are also usually some seasonal events at Valley Forge, including reenactments at the famous "wintering over" location of the Continental Army from the Revolutionary War. In addition, just north of Valley Forge, there is usually reenactments events at the Washington Crossing Park, where Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas Eve, surprising the British at Trenton.

Ok that was a bit heavy on the history, but Philadelphia is a very historical place, so it is hard not to run into history all over.

My favorite areas include the historical downtown areas (Independance Hall, Liberty Bell, etc), museums in Center City (downtown where tall buildings are),and Art Museum just outside Center City and finally, a stroll on South Street, where there are many funky shops and incredible street photography opportunities.

Have fun!

oh btw: a visit to Geno's Steaks, and Pat's King of Steaks (across the street) is a must for the true Philadelphia experience. These are the famous south philly cheesesteak vendors, and most folks in the area are either 'Geno's' or 'Pats', meaning their preference for one vendor vs the other. For the record, I am Pats. If you don't manage to get to south Philly, I also recommend Jim's Steaks, on the same South Street I mention above. I actually prefer Jim's over the other two.

Pats
Genos
Jims

jziegler · May 20, 2009

The historical sites and museums are all good places to visit. You can add the Franklin Institute to the list of museums, especially with small kids. There are plenty of hands on science exhibits for the kids. There's also the please touch museum that just moved to Fairmount Park, but I don't know as much about it.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Eastern State Penitentiary, which is supposed to be quite a great place for photography, and an interesting historic site; http://www.easternstate.org/

The former Wanamaker's store in center city hosts a christmas display in their grand court, and at least some showings of it are followed by a short recital on the world's largest pipe organ (all free). The store is now Macy's.

The lobby of the Pennsylvania Convention Center is the old trainshed from the Reading Railroad's terminal, very impressive architecture. Downstairs from that is the Reading Terminal Market, a good place to go for a meal sometime. Very good food vendors, fresh baked goods, etc.

lathamb · May 28, 2009

jasonstone wrote:

Thanks will check the sites out - I'll be looking for American or TexMex when I'm there I think and will look forward to a philly steak

I'd not get my hopes up for good TexMex. I moved from Dallas, TX to Philly three years ago and still haven't found good Mexican food. Eastern State Penitentiary is really cool, and boat house row along the Schuylkill River is lit up with colored lights during that time. Look up the Mutter Museum, if you're in to weird medical history, but I wouldn't want to bring the young ones there. Two of my favorite restaurants in the area near the art museum are Brigid's and Rembrandt's. Both have good food and beer selections.

jasonstone · May 29, 2009

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions and restaurants etc. - bring it on

I'm looking forward to this trip - as are the whole family - it's gonna be some kinda fun :ivar

spechtal · June 3, 2009

Hi Jason,

I was recently in Philadelphia for the American Association of Museums Conference. It's an incredible city and lots of stuff to see, and totally walkable downtown core, and bus transportation/guided tours between Independence Hall and Art Museum is really good. Like others have said before, there are lots of excellent Museums and sites related to Americana and the architecture is stunning.

The Natural Sciences academy, Please Touch Museum and Battleship New Jersey are excellent. I like the Eastern State Penitentiary too (although I found the damp & mildewy smells and such from the site hard on my allergies). I have been putting up photos on my smugmug site: spechtal.smugmug.com as I go along...still have quite a few to do and haven't inserted any commentary yet, but might give you some ideas.

I hope you and your family have an excellent holiday.

budman101 · June 11, 2009

Just one word of caution...maybe the holiday schedule is different, but most of the Philly museums are closed on Monday. That would be a good day to go to Longwood Gardens. Longwood's holiday display is their biggest draw but Monday's are a bit slower.
As far as food goes, you gotta go to the home of the Philadelphia Cheesesteak. Its either Pats' or Geno's down on the corner of Passyunk and Wharton.

jasonstone · June 12, 2009

thanks to everyone for the great tips - we're going to head up to Washington too - for the Smithsonian museums.

Definitely want to go to the air and space museum and maybe one where we can take the kids to see the dinosaurs

only problem we'll have i think is fitting everything in in 2 weeks... that's always the problem with holidays as we're the exploring type

cheers, Jase

John02 · June 16, 2009

Re: Philadelphia at Xmas time
My family and my friends enjoyed a lot in Philadelphia for the Christmas. We just got services from a good photographer. We just got him from Mineeds.com by requesting our needs and providers placed their bids on our needs. Good service!!! We really getting the past through that photos.

Philadelphia Photographers & Photography - Get Bids & Save | MiNeeds

jasonstone · June 16, 2009

John02 wrote:

My family and my friends enjoyed a lot in Philadelphia for the Christmas. We just got services from a good photographer. We just got him from Mineeds.com by requesting our needs and providers placed their bids on our needs. Good service!!! We really getting the past through that photos.

Philadelphia Photographers & Photography - Get Bids & Save | MiNeeds

Hi John02, that is a very bizarre first post

and I'll be honest it appears to be :spam!!

We're on a photography discussion forum and I would think if anyone was going to get photos done at Christmas time they'de be able to (or at want to) do it themselves. I know I certainly will be....

If I've misunderstood please feel free to correct me...

Cheers
Jason

Angelo · July 1, 2009

there's a nice article in the July/August issue of DWELL

http://www.dwell.com/articles/philadelphia-pa-detour.html

kernix · July 19, 2009

I live in Philly - here are some suggestions:

the Art Museum - on the steps looking down the Parkway with City Hall in the center - same steps where Rocky did his thing.

Just behind the Art Museum is too killer subjects - the Waterworks (I shot from the Gazebo) and then Boathouse Row at Night - I have pics of both on my website.

Just to the right of the museum is the Spring Garden Bridge - set up on the bridge (there's a sidewalk) and you have a real nice cityscape shot with the schuykill river in the foreground.

Eastern State pen - I live a block away and have not shot it yet - also hear that inside has some nice features - $20 to get inside, no tripods allowed but monopods allowed.

The Ben Frankling Bridge - beautiful bridge - take Spring Garden street to the end and make a right - another option is to take the Ben Franklin bridge into camden, and photograph the city from the aquarium, or the Tweeter center (it changed names, can't remember the new one) - there is also a ferry that will take you across.

On the Philly side of the bridge is a marina - lots of sailboats.

Continue down the delaware (going south) and there's the Moshulu - an old 3-masted sail boat, that's now a bar\restaurant - right near there is another tall ship, and a submarine - then there's the Philly boat yard.

Head out towards Manayunk on Kelly drive and take some pics on\near the East Falls bridge. Also, in Manayunk, there's a really scenic old church

Along Kelly drive is an old cemetary that's known for great images.

And if in Philly, you have to take a shot of the LOVE statue in LOVE park.

That's just to get you started. Try searching under "Philadelphia" in Goole Images to get some more ideas.

Jim

DigiNew · July 20, 2009

Kernix--i'm from Philly also and i am trying to learn how to take better photos. i looked at ur site and for someone that is self taught u have done a wonderful job being teacher/student.

right now my struggle is with exposure. i just keep reading up on exposure and practice what i have read.

only been taking photos for a few months so i have a long way to go but i'm enjoying the learning process. (at least when i don't get frustrated):D

btw--u posted all the spots that i like to visit with my camera.:D

robin

Philadelphia at Xmas time

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