It's always windy in Philadelphia

So, often, when Michael and I arrive in a city and it's only one or two miles to walk to our hotel, we opt to walk.  This is what we did in Philly.  That was probably a mistake.
The Amtrak station in Philly was very nice and it had a subway system attached to it that actually would have taken us right to our hotel, but instead we walked down Market Street which, for the most part, was like walking through the downtown east side on welfare Wednesday.
New York and Boston are great cities.  They're also really safe and there's a lot of money in both of them.  Philly?  Not so much.
So here I am all decked out in pastel stuff that I bought at MEC (I bought stuff that was pastel because we were going to be gone for two weeks and it was easy wash/quick dry stuff.  I fucking hate pastel ANYTHING), plus my fuchsia Jackets for Jasper jacket (with embroidery!), with a knapsack and pulling my luggage.  That we made it to our hotel unmolested was amazing.
We checked in (me thinking about what a mistake I made choosing to check out Philly) and the woman behind the desk gave us a map with the "safe" areas on it.  I have never been given a map like that before.  It was sort of up there with the time we went to the south side of Chicago and were pretty sure we were going to be murdered and then the next day someone said "just be sure not to go to the south side of Chicago".  It was funny a day later because we didn't get jumped.
A lot of cities fuck up their waterfronts.  Toronto's is a goddamn nightmare.  Boston had an expressway running through their city until they did the "big dig" and put the traffic underground where it belongs.  Philadelphia offers up Penn's Landing which is a goddamn abomination.  It's a classic example of how the car is king and how certain city planners should be beaten to death.  F: fail.  And not only was the waterfront sad and a bit scary?  No one was using it.  This was probably because it's sad and a bit scary.
Not off to a good start in Philly, it would appear.
But the saving grace was that I like to eat.  We had a cheap/free guide to NYC book, so when we got to the Penn's View hotel I checked out the highest rated, moderately priced restaurants and, after wandering around a bit, we went to the Kyber Pass Pub.  I had a fake pulled pork sandwich (I had to try it), and for the first time, I tried collard greens.  Collard greens are awesome, and they also remind me of Fuzzy Zoeller which is funny because I actually watch golf on television and I am always amazed that I do that.  Long story short: thumbs up to the Kyber Pass Pub.
The next day we went to see the Liberty Bell and just after we left there was a bomb scare and the SWAT team and the media came out.  Seriously?
I have to say that Philadelphia is really trying. The Liberty Bell museum was free.  They have tons of outdoor art, parks and it's an amazingly historic city.  In retrospect I regret our initial walk down Market Street, because Philadelphia is a very cool city, upcoming and emerging, and it has a lot to offer.
While we were there we checked out the famous LOVE piece, ran up the stairs to the museum like Rocky, and went to see Boathouse Row which was a lot like our seawall here in Vancouver near the rowing club, but better.  Very upscale and next to a massive park.  We went to Rittenhouse Square which reminded me of the parks interspersed throughout New York, and it was ringed with lots of great shopping and ritzy residences.
We had two meals at Sassafras Bar.  The food there was excellent, as was the service and beer selection.  It was a super retro bar, with tile floors and not a lot of tables: people sat at the bar and conversed with the knowledgeable bartender who was the only guy manning the joint (and I assume the owner as well).  To boot he had some live music on our last night there which just topped off a great visit to that city.
After we went to Boathouse Row we checked out the Fairmount Water Works.  Per Wikipedia "The Fairmount Water Works... was Philadelphia's second municipal waterworks... built between 1812 and 1872, it operated until 1909, winning praise for its design and becoming a popular tourist attraction. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and is once again in the process of winning back visitors, now housing a restaurant and an Interpretive Center to aid in understanding the waterworks' purpose and local watershed history".
And, of course, we had a Philly cheesesteak.  Yes, I fell off the cruelty free meat wagon on this trip which means I suck, but man, that was a good sandwich.  It was quite the experience.  We were stressed out about ordering.  We actually had come across an article on how to order one appropriately, without looking like an asshole. 
While my first impression of Philly wasn't stellar, every subsequent hour that I was there changed my mind, from Rodin's "The Thinker" to Reading Terminal Market, to the foodie restaurants on 2nd Street, and to the guy who told me to "stay beautiful" at the shops at Liberty Place.