Last month, a friend and I finally made the trip that we had planned to Philly. We were supposed to go last year but COVID put a stop to those plans. Thankfully, we went through a travel agency so we were able to rebook it without losing anything.
So here’s the thing about my travel style: I’m what you’d call adaptable. Meaning, if we’re going to hit the ground running when we arrive and go non-stop I’m cool with that (as long as I know beforehand, lol), but if we’re going to have loose plans and just go wherever the wind blows, I’m cool with that as well. For this trip, I looked up a few small businesses and restaurants that we could visit; I love supporting local businesses and my friend is a vegetarian, so I tried to find spots that we’d both enjoy. Our only for sure plan was to visit the African American Museum but other than that, we basically decided what we’d do the night before.
We stayed at The Embassy Suites which was perfect; while I love a cute boutique hotel, I knew that we’d be on the go most of the time during our trip so it didn’t really make sense for us to splurge on that. The room was nice, and we were a quick ride from the airport and maybe 20 minutes for everything else. The first night there we hung out in the hotel lobby bar and listened to music, had dinner and drinks, and just relaxed since we’d had a long travel day.
The next day (Sunday), we traveled into the city and visited The African American Museum in Philadelphia. It is the first institution built by a major United States city to house and interpret the life and work of African Americans. They were in the process of changing out some of the exhibitions so we weren’t able to tour the entire museum, but we both really enjoyed Audacious Freedom: African Americans in Philadelphia 1776 – 1876, an interactive exhibition that recounts the stories of and contributions made by people of African descent in Philadelphia.
After our visit, we walked around for a few hours and honestly, in a city like Philly that’s an adventure in it of itself. It’s not as fast-paced as NYC, but there’s a bustle to it that’s nice. First, we walked through the fashion district where you could shop at some of your favorite retailers. I’m not a huge shopper when I go out of town unless it’s a local spot, but I do enjoy window shopping, so we popped into Primark while we were there (they had cute pre-fall stuff that’s very reminiscent to H&M). We also walked through their Chinatown Neighborhood. It’s filled with eclectic shops and a wide selection of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai and Burmese spots. We grabbed lunch from there and headed back to our room to watch football and chill.
Since we were so close to so many states, we decided that night to book a trip on Amtrak and go into NYC the next morning (Monday). Amtrak is really affordable (it was less than $90 each round trip), and our ride was less than 90 minutes. Once we got into Penn Station, we walked around for a bit and people watched naturally, lol. On a whim, I texted a friend that I haven’t seen in years since he moved away and after an Uber debacle, lol, we visited him in Williamsburg and had lunch while we caught up. We took the subway back to catch the train (which is confusing AF-idk how yall do it, haha!), and then hung out around what is most likely Philly’s Medical District. We passed by some old churches and admired the architecture before heading back.
So Tuesday was our day to really get out to explore the city. Unfortunately, a lot of the places that we wanted to visit were closed because of COVID (their busier days where towards the end of the week), but after some research, I found an area where we could hang out in until our dinner reservation. We went to Midtown Village, which was very reminiscent of Cooper-Young and South Main Street but x5. So think art galleries, cute boutiques and shops, cozy coffee shops and patisseries, and a ton of restaurants. There were some larger retailers like Sephora, Target, etc. and luxury hotels sprinkled in, but if you look for the heart/culture of a city, this area was one of them.
We first visited Morton Contemporary Gallery and I was in love at first site. They had so many cool art pieces in, and I got to chat with the owner Kim a bit, which you know I loved!
After the gallery, we stopped inside Shibe Vintage Sports to grab some Philly paraphernalia, and then we walked a bit before grabbing coffee and a pastry from Paris Baguette.
I love to people watch so we sat outside while I had my coffee, and then we continued with exploring, where we stumbled into this cute shop called DFTI Boutique. The aesthetic is what I LOVE to see in a boutique (bright and boho-esque, lol), so after taking some video, I found some lovely earrings and a necklace to take back with me.
Before we headed to dinner, we stopped in a Foreign Bazaar where I bought some beads for my friend David, and then finally on to Charlie Was A Sinner. It’s a vegan cafe + bar that has creative cocktail and plant-based small plates. It’s very dark and moody, and because of that…. I didn’t get any pictures. Everything was yummy tho! And of course I wanted something sweet so we got ice cream from Van Leeuwen Ice Cream. They’re popular for their vegan ice cream but I settled on pistachio.
We explored a little more before heading back to our room to prepare to leave the next day. While I was a little sad that there were some places that we missed because of scheduling/operating hours, overall it was an amazing trip. We’ve already talked about visiting again because there’s so much to see. I also love how close we are to Boston and DC-those were our other choices when we were looking at Amtrak rides so we have some other options next time we go. If you have any places that are a must-visit, I’d love for you to share them with me!
Also, if you want to see some video from the trip, there’s a Philly highlight on my Instagram page!
Have you been to Philly?