I arrived in Philadelphia Monday evening to the home of my lovely Couchsurfing hostess…Claire. She was still at work, so I had detailed instructions on where to find the keys to her beautiful City apartment that is located near Rittenhouse Square. All of the lights were on when I arrived to welcome me.
This is her living room. I love window seats! She is a voracious reader and just outside of this photo on the left is another built-in bookcase with books!
This is the area she lives in. The apartments are so cool! Everything is within walking distance…restaurants, bars, shopping, and the grocery. If you work downtown, you could walk or bike there! Obviously, there are drawbacks to living in a City…just like there are to living in the Country or a Suburb.
This is Claire…
Rittenhouse Square is minutes away. It’s a lovely place to walk your dog, people watch or take a break!
I got an early start and was out walking by 8:00am. The City buildings were fun to photograph!
Love this art sculpture of a clothes pin!
This Benjamin Franklin sculpture is unique…
City Hall is beautiful. That’s William Penn at the top…
I had google mapped my route to stop first at the Reading Terminal Market. There were quite a few Amish working in the Market…
I had a delicious breakfast of warm blueberry pancakes with turkey bacon…
The Market had all types of goodies…fresh organic honey…
Tons of colorful fruits and vegetables…
And Beautiful flowers…
I saw much more my first day…but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for more!
Related articles
- The Empty Air: A Rittenhouse Square Sound Walk (scrapbook.lacolombe.com)
- NYC coffee shop to rev up Rittenhouse Square (bizjournals.com)
- Best Big Cities For The Sweet Single Life (forbes.com)
- America’s Most Walkable Cities (apartmentguide.com)
- Why Philadelphia really is a big cheese (telegraph.co.uk)
- Dinner in at luxury Boutique Steak House in Rittenhouse Square (penngastronomy.wordpress.com)
- Most Unique Restaurants in Downtown Philadelphia (apartmentguide.com)
- Philadelphia and New York City…Here I Come! (travelspirit333.com)
- Philadelphia: We Ran, We Ate, We Conquered (willrunforglitter.com)
Sherry Lachelle Travels 
Pingback: Independence Hall, Graveyards and Art in Philadelphia | Fabulous 50's
I love love markets!!! Great photos! 🙂
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Thanks very much! 🙂
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Ah… I love window seat too but most houses in my country don’t have this kind of thing but I always like to look at them when I read about decoration.
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They are so quaint!
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I love those open air markets.
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Me too!
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What a beautiful city! And the markets – oh, I could spend a day in there.
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I love markets too!
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Great to see … Philadelphia again – been there in total 3 times in the late 80’s … loved, sure it has changed a lot. I bought a handbag that I still have – in a very old department store that have an organ that they play midday … can’t for my life remember the name.
Fantastic shots and what a nice place you are spending your nights.
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Thanks Viveka! That’s a long time to have a purse. 😉
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Oh, I miss Philly SO much!! Try to get to the PSFS building — it’s the first skyscraper to have air-conditioning and is a monument to the modern architecture movement — plus on each floor, they have beautiful big Art Deco clocks! Definitely go see the Maxfield Parrish/Tiffany mural (Steve Wynn tried to buy it and take it to Vegas — what a drama!) — and by ALL means go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (it’s AMAZING), Rodin Museum, and new Barnes Museum. The Franklin Institute is a must – and the Constitution Museum is also fascinating! Then definitely take yourself & Claire out to a BYOB place (there are hundreds of amazing small restaurants) — maybe someplace like Mr. Martino’s down in the Italian neighborhood?? And if you can, take a long walk (your specialty) on East & West River Drive — it’s SO SO beautiful!! What a perfect time to visit — hope all is blooming! Wow… you are making me really homesick, Sherry!
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I was only there for 2 days Betty. I’m in NYC now. I had fun sightseeing and taking photos though!
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Wow. What a great place. And gorgeous photos. I’ve never been there but would love to go.
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Thanks…hope you’re able to visit soon!
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Claire has such a beautiful home!! I had never even heard of couchsurfing before, went ahead and googled them… what a lovely idea and way to travel!
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I know…it’s very cool!
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I’m going to visit for the first time next weekend! So excited. Have any recommendations for things to do?
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I was only there for 2 days…I’m in NYC right now. I mostly walked around sightseeing and taking photos…one of my favorite things to do. Definitely go to South Street! I’ll have a post up about that in a few days.
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William Penn is the figure on the top of City Hall, not Ben
Nice photos
Love, hugs and prayers…ME and the Boss
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Thanks…I’ll make that change! xoxo ~Sherry~
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You certainly could not have picked a better place to stay! Rittenhouse Square is one of the nicest areas in Center City. I always get notifications on Couch Surfing but the people are quite young. How did you ever find such a wonderful Hostess! Try to see the Maxfield Parrish Mosaic in the Lobby of the Curtis Building! It’s wonderful! Have fun!
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I think I have good travel karma! I was very fortunate to find Claire…she is a lovely person! I did stop in the Curtis Bldg. and have a photo of that mosaic. I’ll be showing it in one of my posts. Thanks!
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Great photos Sherry 🙂
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Thank you so much! Have a great weekend!
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I’ve never been to Philadelphia and would love to visit there. Your photos are very inviting. Can’t wait to see more.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
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Thanks…you would love it!
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