People here at Hopkins are always raving about how close Baltimore is to D.C. and New York.
"Lucky us!" students say. "There are actually real cities nearby." Scan the map once more, though, and you'll find that you've neglected one place not worth overlooking: Philadelphia.
With freshman pass/fail semester over and midterm exams in full swing, brotherly love may be fading fast around campus. Lucky for us, the City of Brotherly Love is just around the corner and can offer the perfect getaway. It's as quick a road trip north as it is south to D.C.
Affectionately called "Philly" by both natives and admirers, Philadelphia is only a half hour Amtrak ride or an hour and a half north by car. Although it might not be home to our nation's capitol, it is home to a host of other things that many people value more than the U.S. government, anyway. Philly is home of the great cheesesteak, of the Fliers and the Sixers, the Phillies and the Eagles, of great shopping and lots of college kids and of some hearty U.S. history.
For a perspective on just how close Philly is to B'more, Hopkins students like sophomores Ryan Williams and Austin Evers have made road trips up to Philly just to get a cheesesteak for dinner. (The Philadelphia wonder that is "cheesesteak" is something that we'll get to later. Read on.) There are plenty more reasons to check out Philadelphia, too.
For those who haven't been to Philly yet, take some advice from Hopkins students who call the city home. If anything, they agree that Philadelphia has a lot to offer.
From the Liberty Bell to the night clubs, the city "is a combination of history and of really modern places," said sophomore Lindsay Allen, who grew up in a suburb ten minutes outside of Philly. "Baltimore is a more navigable town, but Philadelphia has so much to offer. There is really something for everyone."
As far as sight-seeing goes, there are the usual must-sees. Penn's Landing is the classy, riverside equivalent of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. The Philadelphia Museum of Art not only has great art, but has those achingly-long set of front steps made infamous in the Rocky movies. Ritten House Square is known for its elegant shops and Boathouse Row is home to a string of beautiful houses that light up each night along the river.
Like any big city, Philadelphia has its share of little neighborhoods, too. Most are worth checking out, like Little Italy and Chinatown (which puts on an amazing and cheap Sunday "dim sum" brunch), while some are best avoided, like the ghettoes to the north and west.
The little town of Manayunk is the popular equivalent of Baltimore's own Fell's Point and comes highly recommended. According to Allen, there's a restaurant in Manayunk that's been rated the city's best date restaurant for over eight years in a row. Her own favorite restaurant is there, too - a Japanese eatery called Hikaru.
"It [Manayunk] is just a beautiful place," said sophomore Vanessa Menaged, who lives 15 minutes outside of Philly. "Whenever I go in to the city with my friends, we go there. It's got great restaurants, cute shops and really, really good water ice."
Which brings us to the Philly phenomenon of water ice. Allen mentioned it, too. Apparently, this Philly staple is like a snow cone, but more finely ground and with mixed fruit flavorings that are sometimes made fresh on the spot. The chain store, Rita's, serves water ice topped with creamy custard, too, and calls it a gelato. It's said to be heavenly.
And speaking of heavenly, we might as well discuss the king of all infamous Philly foods: the cheesesteak. It's no joke that one can find them everywhere in the city. No one makes cheesesteak like they do in Philly. In this birthplace of cheesesteak, the trend is to top sandwiches with CheeseWhiz. The permanent rivalry for the best cheesesteak, though, is between Pat's and Geno's. And unlike Philly cheesecake, which apparently is not such a native-Philly thing, everyone loves cheesesteak.
For some road trips, it is the primary reason: "I go for the cheesesteaks," said Williams, who comes from outside of Philly. Whenever they get a chance, he and a friend at nearby Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) who has a car make dinner into a road trip to Philly.
Evers is the other student who has made the same cheesesteak pilgrimage: he drove up one weekend last semester and returned a completely devoted Philly cheesesteak fan.
"I'd had cheesesteaks before," said Evers, who is from San Francisco, "but cheesesteaks in Philly just aren't the same. In two days, I had four or five. The best part about them is that you don't even digest them; you just absorb the fat."
There is one way to tell a native from a tourist, though (besides the fact that natives like Williams put CheeseWhiz on their sandwiches).
"Only tourists go [to eat cheesesteaks] during the day. Real Philadelphians go at night," Allen said. She herself couldn't even say where Pat's is, because she says she's only ever been there drunk. True Philly style.
Shoppers can have a blast in Philly, too, because Pennsylvania has no sales tax on clothes. Besides King of Prussia mall - which is one of the biggest in the country, housing Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus and full designer stores - Philly offers some decidedly unique places to browse. Not only for window-gazing but for people-gazing, the biggest attraction under this category is South St.
This eclectic avenue of hippie thrift shops, tattoo parlors and flower shops is the main strolling ground for young people after dark. True, you won't find many native Philadelphians over high school age there, but "if you're not from the area, it's definitely worth checking out," Menaged said. "You'll see everything. It's wild." Make sure to check out the new mega-store Condom Paradise, too. It sells everything from flavored condoms to dildos to sperm-shaped birthday balloons.
If you haven't been able to pick out a native Philadelphian among the sight-seeing, the cheesesteak eateries and the shopping, their loyalty to their sports teams is bound to give them away.
"Eagles fans are really hard-core. Everywhere you go, you'll find banners and flags," Menaged said.
To characterize them in general? "Philly fans are supposed to be the most obnoxious in the world," Allen said. She said they'll even spit on their own players. Hmm.
As far as the college scene goes, Philly certainly has its share of young people. All within close range of each other are Drexel, Temple and the University of Pennsylvania, which throws a wild Spring Fling fair every year that Allen said is fantastic. The clubs in the area all have college nights, of course, and are worth checking out. The best include Baja, Egypt and Shampoo.
If you're feeling the itch to leave Hopkins, one tank of gas or a round-trip Amtrak ticket will get you up and back to Philadelphia in no time. Go for a weekend or go for dinner: Philadelphia is just waiting for you to discover it.
"Philadelphia is full of pockets of surprise. It really is fantastic," Allen said.
