Thursday Thirteen #13

For this week's edition of Thursday Thirteen we thought we would share with you thirteen things mommy, daddy, mr. chen and Ollie love about Philadelphia. As we told you in a previous TT, we actually live in a town called Lansdowne but we are so close to Philly that we feel we need to tell you about our great city.

1. We are from Philly and mommy and daddy got us at the wonderful Philadelphia based Morris Animal Refuge.

2. The fantastic Philadelphia Art Museum and the other local museums including The Barnes Museum The Mutter Museum, The Brandywine River Museum.

3. Restaurants in Philadelphia. Mommy and daddy think the restaurant scence is fantastic. So many different cuisines and lots of really great local joints and bars. Favorites include Bar Ferdinand, Jack's Firehouse, Caribou Cafe, Veitnam, and SangKee to name just a few of their favorites.

4. The Italian Market is the oldest and largest working outdoor market in the US. The Italian Market is the best place to go for produce, meats, and more.

5. Reading Terminal Market is a fantastic indoor covered market with many vendors selling fish, cheese, produce, meats, flowers, prepared foods - you name it. Some favorite stops inside include cheesesteaks at Rick's, breakfast at Downhome Diner OR the Dutch Eating Place. And for dessert, ice cream at Bassets.

6. For true Philly vibe, you must either bike or rollerblade along the river at Boathouse Row or take a night drive along the Schuylkill River when the boathouses are all lit up.

7. As far as historic cities go, you can't get much more history than in Philadelphia, the birthplace of the nation. Just check out Independence Mall which has the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall the new(ish) National Constitution Center and much more.

8. Cheesesteaks!! Philly is known for its cheesesteaks and rightly so. There is a heated competition between local owner's Pats and Genos (not to mention all the faction cheesesteak competitions). In our mommy and daddy's book, Pat's is the only answer when on Passyunk.

9. Philly soft pretzels. Yep, we're known for these, too.

10. The Philadelphia Zoo is the nation's oldest zoo. Lots of fun and with the zoo ballon even more so now.

11. The Elmwood Park Zoo is not *technically* in Philadelphia (it's in a suburb called, Norristown) but it's also a wonderful little zoo. With smaller and more manageable grounds, it can be a great way to get up and close and personal with the animals. Mommy especially loves the birdies there. Mmmmm birdies.

12. The shore. You haven't really visited Philly if you haven't been to "the shore". Every proper Philadelphian goes to the shore. Mommy has always gone to Ocean City, New Jersey since she was a little girl. (Daddy prefers beaches in another state called Delaware but maybe we'll post about that in another Thursday Thirteen someday.)

13. If you want a world-class science museum, The Franklin Institute is a wonderful place to visit with lots of hands on interactive science exhibits including a giant heart that you can walk through and much more. Special exhibits there are also cool like The Body Worlds exhibit that came a few years ago and The King Tut exhibit which is just wrapping up.

We hope you've enjoyed these 13 things about Philadelphia!! Come and visit soon!