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    Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

    Question for ursus et al - any suggestions for things worth doing on a January Saturday in Philadelphia (when the Flyers are away)?
    N.B. I'm up on the packing better gear than Scott took to the Antarctic bit.

    #2
    Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

    There are a number of excellent museums, including the Barnes Foundation, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Franklin Institute, and the Anthropological Museum at Penn. The Constitution Center (close to the Bell) is also interesting.

    I would recommend a visit to Reading Terminal Market, though Inca got sick there a while back.

    Philly is a very good walking city, but the weather is unlikely to cooperate in that regard.

    In terms of sport it is worth seeing if there is a college basketball game at the Palestra, which is one of the great historic arenas in the country.

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      #3
      Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

      Good tips from Helio here

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        #4
        Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

        Thanks ursus. And by extension Heliotrope.

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          #5
          Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

          Loads of museums, and if you're keen, other historic stuff like Ben Franklin's house/office, Betsy Ross' house, the oldest street in America (forget the name), etc. Further out There's Valley Forge and much further out there's Gettysburg, and much much much further out is my house.

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            #6
            Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

            PM for HP

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              #7
              Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

              Not sure how to retrieve that, but I'll check

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                #8
                Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                Click on your profile, and there is a button on the right under Location

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                  #9
                  Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                  Hot Pepsi wrote: ... and much much much further out is my house.
                  If you're already taking in beautiful Breezewood, PA, you may as well make the extra trip to State College.

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                    #10
                    Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                    ursus arctos wrote: Click on your profile, and there is a button on the right under Location
                    It works on firefox, but on IOS or Chrome, I get a limited set of buttons.

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                      #11
                      Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                      If you only have the one day or part of a day, you probably should just stick to Old City, where the major historic sights are fairly close together, and there's some decent shopping and restaurants (including places for a cheesesteak if you want to give one a try). It's likely to be super cold in January, so you wouldn't have to be outside all that much.

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                        #12
                        Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                        If I ever make it to Philly, I'd want to see the Rocky steps. I imagine throngs of tourists standing on top of them having their Rocky-pose photos taken. I'd join them.

                        Is their anything to see connected with Philly soul? A Gamble & Huff museum? Guided tours by Bunny Sigler?

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                          #13
                          Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                          I only skimmed the other threads, which threatened to take me back into some sort of vortex, but I stand by my Magic Gardens recommendation, which is not solely based on sentimental reasons.

                          I didn't see it specifically mentioned elsewhere, though I might have missed it, but the Mutter Museum is fun, in a macabre way. It's reasonably centrally located, too (well, we walked there from Penn's Landing - it was *quite* a walk, but a nice walk.)

                          http://muttermuseum.org/

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                            #14
                            Go see the Liberty Bell and...?



                            Torn down in 2015, never having recovered from a fire in 2010.

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                              #15
                              Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                              So just the Rocky steps for me then?

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                                #16
                                Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                                No problem.

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                                  #17
                                  Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                                  I can't blame the Reading Terminal Market for getting me sick.

                                  I enjoyed Independence Hall.

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                                    #18
                                    Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                                    I spent a total of 12 hours in Philadelphia on a day trip from NY. It's a fantastic art town.

                                    I highly recommend the Barnes Collection in that it is unlike any other art gallery you will ever see with very high quality works. Cezanne moved to God-like status for me after my day in Philadelphia in a way that multiple trips to Paris galleries had not provided. I'd prebook to avoid disappointment although the day that I went (a Friday in February) it was OK to pay on the door for immediate entry.

                                    The Philadelphia Museum of Art is globally underrated. Even the Rocky Steps weren't busy on the day I was there. In terms of quality of exhibition and size of exhibition space, it should be absolutely thronged. As it was, I had entire wings to myself. They have a strong Northern Renaissance works with a masterpiece each by van Eyck and van der Weyden the highlight. They're weirdly strong in British 18th/19th C. painting and have a superb collection of breadth and depth of Impressionist and post-Impressionist art thanks largely to Mary Cassatt's influence on rich Philadelphia collectors and Paul Durand-Ruel's expansion to the US.

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                                      #19
                                      Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                                      The Philadelphia Museum of Art is indeed amazing. When we were there, tickets would be valid for the day you bought them and the subsequent day. We made full use of our two days: there's enough to see.

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                                        #20
                                        Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                                        If I've ever been there, I don't remember it. I'll make an effort.

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                                          #21
                                          Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                                          On a complete tangent, but Ek weet nie, the best Cezanne collection I've ever seen is at the Courtauld in London.

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                                            #22
                                            Go see the Liberty Bell and...?

                                            I love the Courtauld, it's potentially the perfect sized gallery of quality there is. Last time I was there I saw 7 Cezanne paintings. Quantity isn't everything but the Barnes has 67 of his and Philadelphia Museum of Art another 17. On the same trip between MoMA and the Met I saw 30+ more. His level of sustained quality and clear difference in how he approached his metier shone through with that volume.

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