Philly Staycation March 2019
OK, technically Philadelphia, fla-delph-ya, is NOT a staycation. But, it is just a stone’s throw down the road from my home in NYC or, more accurately, roughly a 90 minute Amtrak ride. The main attraction was the Philadelphia Flower Show. This year I bought tickets early and for a few dollars more became a member and secure early viewing hours for two. I also used a Hotels.com coupon to book two nights at the DoubleTree Hilton Center City. It should be noted that sometimes Hilton hotels are best booked on their own website for the additional perks, but in this case the coupon outweighed that option.
The train ride was on time and pleasant. The cost, booked well in advance, was $88 r/t. Amtrak seats are comfortable, roomy, and being able to walk around is a great change of pace from air travel. Throw in the added benefits of quiet cars, café cars and being transported from city center to city center without the airport transfer experience and the difference for short distances is measurable in palpable levels of inner peace upon arrival.
My travel companion and I managed an early escape from Friday work and took a 4pm train, arriving into Philly 80 minutes later. It was a brisk, but dry, evening so we walked the 20 minutes to the hotel. I always try to wend a different route each time I go just to see new architecture and to take photos.
There’s some terrific old homes in Center City, including the one we would visit later that evening for dinner. Check in at the hotel was a breeze even with a convention at the hotel and a few Harlem Globe Trotters running around. There are less expensive rooms in town, but for the location, room size, and pool, the spacious two queen bed room at (roughly) $150 a night was a good deal. It’s near two SEPTA train lines, a 24 hour store, and a few theatres and nightlife options, and some great restaurants within walking distance.
I recently adopted a vegan diet so I was excited to try Vedge at 1221 Locust Street. It’s housed in an historic old brownstone, the Tiger building according to their website, so the inside is lovely. It’s devided up into a few rooms, a bar room with food service in the front, two small, dark, dining rooms, and a third brighter and open to the kitchen room. We arrived for our 9pm seating and were seated in one of the darker rooms which made seeing the presentation difficult, but perhaps that added to the taste sensations. The service was attentive and the selections small, but tasty. I prefer small plates anyway, but I thought readers should know. When they give the menu they mention that most people order one from each of the three sections, Vedge Bar, Dirt List, and The Grill. These roughly translate to appetizer, side, and main. Not being normal people, we order two of the Vedge, one dirt and one Grill and shared. Not to worry, we were saving room for dessert. We tried one of the night’s special, and the rutabaga fondue. The special was fantastic, although hard to describe. The fondue was served in a too large French onion soup bowl with some neatly cut bread. The taste, however, was divine. For the dirt, we had the trumpet mushrooms which came plated with a creamy sauce that came close to overpowering, but didn’t. Finally we had the Wood Roasted Carrot which serves carrot in a variety of ways and was an exquisite display of culinary art. For our mocktails we had the Gingerbeer, which included demerara and lime and was nicer and spicy, and the Timberline Lodge which was a blood orange and soda concoction. The dishes came well-paced, one at a time, in a not-rushed, comestible pace. We had our arms twisted and agreed to dessert, both the Sticky Toffee Pudding and the Dark Chocolate Namelaka. Both were adequately sweet without being sickly. Dinner for two was just under $100. Not an every night meal, but not a vacation, erm STAYcation, budget buster.
After a nice long walk-about/constitutional, we ended the night early, to be ready for a active Saturday.
To take advantage of the afore-mentioned early members hours, we had an early breakfast at HipVegCity. This small storefront chain serves burgers and wraps by day and breakfast options like the AMPhilly tofu scramble and tempeh sandwich and the Southwest Burrito Wrap. With coffee, under $20 bucks. Nothing special, but nice and tasty.
The show was good. Not as awe-inspiring as other years I’ve seen, but there are plenty of highlights and light bulb moments for everyone. I was left both wishing I could have a hand in city park planning and that I had a backyard. For several hours we looked at the winners for many different competitions, both grand-scale and small. There’s also an vendor area that we perused for about an hour too. My friend settled for buying some Lunaria, aka money tree, seeds.
After the show we braved the crowded Reading Market to the centrally located find Luhv Vegan Deli. Our Reuben sandwich and Garbanzo Bean Burger with two Arnold Palmers came quickly, which in this case was a good thing, for about $20. Finding somewhere to sit and eat in Reading is onerous so we went back to the convention center and ate there. Next we used our SEPTAkey cards to ride the 32 bus from city hall to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the last days of the Dior show. I’m sorry it’s closed as you read this because it was great. So many years of fashions created by a plethora of very diverse designers like John Galliano, Balenciago, Yves Saint Laurent, Paco Rabanne, Patrick Kelly, etc….. both for the house of Dior and as counterpoints. The silver one is Metallic lame velvet by Geoffrey Beene. The green skirt was so fabulously beaded and detailed while paired with a simple halter top. The hat was clearly worthy of Alexis Carrington.
A bit of a wander through the museum’s permanent collection brought us to the 5pm closing time and another 32 bus ride back to Center City. After some news and a refresh, we hit the vegan Charlie Was A Sinner for dinner. We had eaten there before some months back but only for drinks and apps so we were excited for a more comprehensive dinner visit. Our server was friendly and knowledgeable on the menu and was able to navigate us to some delectable items. Here we ordered 4 app and one main: artichoke frites, one of the specials, crab cakes, kale salad, and the buccatini and meatballs. Here two they came well-paced, almost one at a time as they came from the kitchen. We paired them with Spicy Apple and Blackberry Ginger mocktails. We finished the meal with a pumpkin Cheesecake with cocounut milk whipped foam. We ended the night on the town, but what happens in Philly at night is going to stay there.
The next morning we had a bit of a lie-in forgoing a few of the traditional Philly sights that were on our list for a re-visit, Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Betsy Ross House, for a little extra shut-eye. We breakfasted at P.S. and co. on Locust and although we didn’t have a reservation, they did fit us in promising we’d be finished by 11am. We had the breakfast burrito and the chocolate quinoa pancakes with mushroom bacon. For drinks we had the “automated pour-over” coffee for $3, but forewent the additional milk and sugar for $1.5 extra. It felt a little too much for everyday breakfast, but would be great for a special occasion and it was absolutely delicious. Breakfast for two was around $60.
From here we walked north to the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul. They were having a mass so we wandered along the side from the entrance to the side exit. From there we walked over to the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, which is free on Sundays for the Rina Banerjee show. We started in the smaller building and were glad we did. We saw a nice mix of work on the 2nd floor and some nice student work downstairs including these two pieces by Shannon Dougherty which I hope will soon be hanging in my personal gallery, Blue Amour and Pink on Blue Amour. 
In the main building/mansion, Rina’s work was interspersed throughout amongst the permanent collection with great effect.
After one last walk to the hotel to pick up the bags and head to the train, Philly staycation was coming to end with a second Amtrak ride home. It was a great 48 hours with many more stones left unturned. Hope you enjoyed the ride with me.
Azo's Travels 