Finding and Keeping Treasure

That I totally love self-guided walking tours is a little-known fact about me that I rarely disclose.  I fell in love with the self-guided tour when Jeff and I took a ten year anniversary trip to Charleston, SC.  We had a AAA book and a city full of charm and history. And 60 - 70 degree weather in January.  It was great way to learn about the city's secret treasures as well as its better-known stories not previously known to us, provided good exercise and good conversation, and taught us some architecture and history lessons, all while making us feel like we were on a treasure hunt.

Since then, Jeff and I like to walk neighborhoods of cities that are new to us. When an opportunity arises for us to have a one or two night getaway, we often choose a new city to walk.  The opportunity presented itself recently, as my parents came to stay with us for a week.  They were happy to have some time with just the girls, taking them to a bookstore and for Chinese food, and spending "Grand Day" with Anna at school. 

We hopped a train to Philadelphia.  Yes, we live in a suburb of Philly but may I say that this is a city FULL of interesting little neighborhoods beyond the usual Independence Hall bit.  It has all the ingredients for a perfect walking tour city: tons of history, interesting architecture, and hidden gems.  For us it's a 15 minute train ride to a stop 2 blocks from Rittenhouse Square, one of the great Philly neighborhoods in Center City.  We ate AMAZINGLY well.  If you want to eat - come to this city. (We ate at The Village Whiskey, a Jose Garces restaurant, and  SPREAD bagel shop - both I whole-heartedly recommend, and both one-of-a-kind. At Parc, another only-Philly restaurant and landmark, we stopped for drinks. We had lunch at Reading Terminal because it is simply a must-stop.  Anything you want, none of it fast food or national chains). We even shopped a little.  You know it's amazing shopping when Jeff will consent to shopping. And of course, we downloaded 2 self-guided walking tour to my phone and walked and walked.  We did not have nice temps, and even had snow on the second day.  It's Philly, not San Diego, right? And admittedly, it was kind of charming walking around with snowflakes falling on our heads and gave us an excuse to pop into interesting coffee shops to warm up.

After we do this, the city becomes part of us, owning a little part of our hearts forever. Though because this one is in our back yard,this one might end up getting a bigger piece.