South Street Philadelphia is an artistic, bohemian part of the city, and you can very easily tell when you have left the Central Business District and entered this artistic district.
Something that was very noticeable in Philadelphia in general, but especially on South Street was the abundance of tiled murals. So many buildings all over the place had these tiled murals completely covering them. I think that they look great.
South Street is full of bars, cafes, restaurants, organic grocery stores and independent shops selling all kinds of goods. It is a very long street and there’s a lot to check out.
The food scene in Philadelphia is really great, and there are a lot of places doing great things with local, seasonal ingredients. On this one day trip, however, there was only one item that I wanted to try, and that was Philly Cheesesteak.
On the train, I did a lot of research to find out where the best place to get a Philly Cheesesteak was. Bottom line – everyone has a different opinion as to which is the best. I narrowed it down to a handful, and this was the most accessible. I don’t have anything to benchmark it against, but I can definitely recommend Jim’s Steaks. Grilled steak, onions, squeezy cheese, in a roll. Simple, greasy (but not in a sickly way), and very tasty.
Dr. Browns is like Dr. Pepper, but better.
A stroll through Queen Village, which contains some beautiful residential streets and houses. We were thankful that we visited the United States just before Halloween, as we go to see all of the decorations. Other countries try to jump onto the Halloween bandwagon these days, and it feels very fake and commercialised. In the United States however, it feels real and authentic.
Just east of Queen Village is what appeared to be an Italian (or at least historically Italian) part of the city. There was lots of Italian related street art, lots of delicatessens and other Italian shops, and the unmistakable sound of Italian-American accents in the area.
