Philadelphia, December 2025
I had a few days of paid time off to use before the end of the year, so I reached out to a friend I like to travel with about the possibility of going somewhere. We wound up deciding on Philadelphia as neither of us had been there and we both had friends in the area that we would like to see. Most of what I know about Philadelphia is from hearing about Eagles fans and throwing batteries at Santa Claus.
Getting into Philly and First Day
Getting in to Philadelphia was pretty uneventful. I flew Delta and got annoyed at having to check my roller bag at the gate for the Atlanta to Philadelphia portion of the flight. I had an early group and they made me and others check bags despite the overhead bins being free when we boarded. People in groups after us got to bring carry on rollers, which annoyed me. I generally hate checking bags, it’s added time at the airport and there is always a risk of your shit not showing up. That is certainly me whining, but it started the trip off on a sour note.
We checked in to our hotel and grabbed some lunch. We went to Harper’s Garden and it was a restaurant. The food was okay and service was better. It seemed like one of those places that is big on mimosa brunches and afterwork drinks.
After, we went back to the hotel and took naps. I had an early flight and had only caught a couple hours of sleep before it. Our friend and his partner showed up and stayed at the same hotel as us, they went and grabbed ramen while I slept some. When I woke up, we met up and had a couple drinks in the hotel bar before crashing out again.
Second Day
We got up early and headed to the Reading Terminal Market. There, we grabbed some breakfast crepes and hot tea before wandering around the market. Reading Terminal Market is a big food hall with a lot of variety and places to eat and shops to check out. It seemed pretty popular and was a bit crowded. There were a dozen different cuisines to choose from as well as a couple places selling things like meats, pastries, cheeses, produce, and some bric-a-brac.
I was kind of surprised to see a bunch of ladies in that Pennsylvania Dutch dress and was curious if it was a getup for an old timey restaurant, but it seemed not to be as I spotted more and more people dressed as such at varying stalls. What I assume to be Amish ladies working in the city was not something I had on my bingo card to expect. From the market, we walked around a bit and killed some time walking around City Hall and through a Christmas Market nearby.
The four of us headed out anew to a quick deli lunch at Honey Bee Gourmet Deli. It was pretty solid and I grabbed a bag of well done pretzels that became a pocket snack for the rest of the day. The pretzels were particularly good. The club sandwiches we got were good.
From there, we split up with our friends and walked toward the Liberty Bell, Congress Hall, and the U.S. Mint. It’s always odd to me to see National Park Service people in the middle of a big-ass city. I always associate them with National Parks and nature, but there were a bunch of them manning the area. We hung out a bit in the park, Independence National Historical Park, or as I took to calling it, the place with the Liberty Bell.
The Liberty Bell was interesting to see. It is one of those things you hear about as a kid and inflate in your head. Seeing it was kind of like “yup, that’s the liberty bell. It has a crack in it…” We waded through the crowd of people there to take a few pictures.
Seeing Congress Hall was a bit more surprising as a place I dug. We got to lounge in what was the first hall for Congress. Ours was a much better version of ‘dipshits invade Congress’ than the last go around a few years ago.
The most amusing part of the place with the Liberty Bell though may have been the Raiders fans in for a game against the Eagles trying to get pictures with a Raiders flag in front of things. Everything they could do so, they were trying to take a picture. The Liberty Bell, Congress Hall, and the museum on site all were target to being overtaken by Raider fans.
The U.S. Mint was interesting but kind of underwhelming. The coins for sale in the gift shop was probably the most amusing part of the trip there. I remember going to the mint in Denver as a kid and being impressed by it. This time, I wasn’t eight years old and it was underwhelming to see save for the big machines.
From that area, we walked to South Street and Brauhaus Schmitz to watch a soccer match. The bar had a ton of German beer on tap and as RB Leipzig was losing the match, we made sure to sample a few of them. We wound up spending a few hours sampling beers and aperitifs before going back to the hotel to meet another friend who came in to town for the night.
We grabbed dinner with him at Rittenhouse Grill. It was fancy and crowded and the onion soup I had was good. The whole thing was a bit of a noisy blur and I blame Brauhaus Schmitz for that. My friend headed back to catch the train home and we crashed out at our hotel.
Third Day
We got up the third day a bit muddled and grabbed some breakfast at Bill’s Breakfast and Lunch. It was a solid, quick, diner breakfast. Nothing special but decent food. The walk there was cool in that we were getting to see some neat buildings and enjoying the architecture.
We then took a long walk to the Rodin Museum. It was small but impressive. Real simple and straight forward. It’s the second time in almost as many weeks I had seen a version of The Thinker. I’d recommend checking out the Rodin Museum and then hitting the Philadelphia Art Museum, which is what we did. Doing so, the price of admission for the Rodin Museum is knocked off of the price to get into the Philadelphia Art Museum.
The art museum was one of the better ones I have been to in the States. It is huge. Outside was a queue of Raiders of fans trying to get their picture taken with the Rocky Balboa statue on the top of the stairs to the museum. With a Raiders flag of course. I don’t know that they were the same fans as the prior day or if that pictures in places with Raiders merch is just a thing that Raider fans do. There was a Raider / Birds back and forth as groups of fans yelled at one another. No fights though, which is kind of the opposite of what I’d been led to believe Philly fans were like, but it was early in the afternoon and not game day.
There are a ton of good displays in the museum. Lots of quality stuff from the Impressionist stuff, to the Asian displays, to a ton of arms and armor, to the American paintings, to the mideval Europe displays. The museum does a great job of displaying and recreating rooms from varying eras. After getting to see my friends, it was the highlight of the trip. Tickets are good for two days, which may be a good thing for a follow up trip to Philly. The museum is my one walk away that has wowed me about Philadelphia.
After the museum, we went to grab cheesesteaks at both Geno’s and Pat’s for a taste test. They are across the street from one another and the two spots I have always heard about. We decided to grab and split a cheesesteak from each. My friend and I both liked Geno’s better than Pat’s, but neither were really things we were blown away by. I remain not a fan of Cheez-Whiz on anything. We grabbed cannolis and Cannoli King next to Geno’s and walked back to where we were staying.
Once back, we took naps again before heading out for dinner at The Dandelion. It’s a British-style pub. The food was pricey but good. It was crowded and kind of a well-to-do crowd. We got sat next to a secondary door with a thick curtain to keep the cold out. As people came through I kept getting bumped into and that was fucking annoying. Dandelion was noisy and while I would probably try it again if it were not a busy time, I don’t know that I would go out of my way for it.
Last Day
We got up to snow. I took a bit to walk around near the hotel and check out the snow and look at the city’s buildings in a new way. We walked around the city a bit trying to find a breakfast spot. After trying a couple places to no avail, we grabbed a quick breakfast at Green Eggs Cafe. The oatmeal was good and had good topping choices. It was cash only, which I like.
We took a cab back to airport. Both of our flights had been delayed some due to what I assume was the weather. However, I would think it could have been Raiders fans holding team flags up in front of planes. During the delay though, the Raiders were playing the Eagles, so it wasn’t the Raider fans holding up the planes.
Overall Thoughts
Philly was kind of so-so to me. Where we were was a bit pricey for what you got, in my opinion. Seeing friends was cool and the Philadelphia Art Museum was a highlight. The Reading Terminal Market was kind of cool and most the food we had was solid, but again, pricey. I bet it is just typical East Coast prices though and where I live is just a bit cheaper.
I don’t know that I would rush back to the city anytime soon, but wouldn’t be averse to checking it out again. I dug the old buildings and how unlike it is from anything I see in my typical day to day existence. On a second trip, I probably could dig a bit deeper into the city and find some other places to check out since I know Philly is a bit of a punk rock town.