Today we continue with the story of our third stop on our East Coast road trip, at The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia.
1. Philadelphia
Philadelphia, in so many ways, is the birthplace of the United States as its own free country – where the Declaration of Independence was drafted and adopted in 1776, where the Continental Congress made its capital through most of the Revolutionary War, home of Benjamin Franklin, and much more. So of course, it’s a “must see” stop for an East Coast family vacation! The drive from New York to Philadelphia is about a 3 hour drive, not counting stops of any kind, such as when we visited the Trenton Battle Monument, which is just a couple minutes out of the way.
What We Did in Philadelphia
As one of the few real cities in America during the Revolution, Philadelphia has many great, older buildings. I really enjoyed whenever we were driving from one place to another in the city, because I got to see so much great architecture.
For example, we stayed in The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia, which is directly across the street from Philadelphia City Hall.
That City Hall is one of the wonders of American architecture and construction. It is amazing and beautiful, made from massive granite and brick; it is the largest municipal building in the United States, and has a 548-foot high brick tower that you can visit and ascend! It is remarkable, and is worth your time to visit.
As for what we did to enjoy Philadelphia, our first planned sight-seeing stop was the Seaport Museum, which has a large and interesting museum about Philadelphia as a Navy port. It also is home of the U.S.S. Olympia, a real Navy cruiser which fought the Spanish navy in the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898. It is also the oldest steel warship still afloat in the entire world. Of course, Red Bear and his Dad had to visit it, and I also found it interesting to see, and compare it to the U.S.S. Constitution of about 100 years earlier, which we visited a few days earlier.
There is also a United States submarine from World War II there, U.S.S. Becuna, and we explored it, as well – it is so long and narrow, and difficult to get from one end to the other, we all came away with huge respect and awe of the sailors who serve in submarines.
“My boys” loved the Olympia, but we were all blown away when we visited the Franklin Institute later that day. It is a large museum dedicated to introducing people to science, in honor of Benjamin Franklin (you know, the man whose face is on the 100-dollar bill!). Franklin was a preeminent scientist and inventor of his day, as well as printer, propagandist, Founding Father, diplomat, and bon vivant! We wish we had allowed for a lot more time to visit this fascinating museum – we could easily have spent at least one full day there, and stayed engrossed the whole time. There are interactive exhibits about the brain, the heart, air, electricity, and so much more. We even saw a little show about how to make fireworks, with lively demonstrations. We all loved it, and definitely will get back to the Franklin Institute again!
Philadelphia, like Boston, is a very walkable city, although we did take Uber to most places during our stay. It’s all under $10 per trip.
Besides those places, there are a lot of other interesting places that will draw us back to Philadelphia, like the Museum of the American Revolution, the Liberty Bell, Reading Market Place, nearby Valley Forge, and quite a few other places. Philadelphia is a great place for a family holiday!
Dining in Philadelphia
We had some really great meals during our brief stay in Philadelphia.
First and fanciest, we dined at Aqimero, in the grand main lobby of The Ritz-Carlton. We had a table close to the big, open fire grills, and really enjoyed watching the process of cooking the meals on them. So colorful! The food was exceptional, and the service was impeccable. Roasted scallops were my main dish, and they were SO delicious, my mouth is watering as I write about them. Chef Vince’s team prepared some “off menu” vegan dishes for Red Bear and my husband, and they loved them. One was a roasted crusted cauliflower plate, and it was so delicious we are still talking about how good it was (yes, I sneaked some bites for myself)!
Besides Aqimero, once again we chose the Club Lounge upgrade when we registered, and made the most of it. It turns out the Club Lounge was just one floor below our suite, decorated nicely like a traditional private club, and stocked all day long with selections of little plates of food, including fruit, pastries, eggs, roasted potatoes (my husband loved them!) in the morning, and appetizers, salads, and desserts in the afternoons. And we can’t forget the choice of fruit juices, coffees, wines, and other beverages all day.
We had good intentions to enjoy more meals outside The Ritz-Carlton during our stay, because Philadelphia has a famous Chinatown district where I planned to search out hot pot, and there are also several other important ethnic neighborhoods with their own distinctive cuisines, There are a lot of attractive restaurants in those places, but we succumbed to the convenience of eating most of our meals in The Ritz-Carlton, and only ended up having late lunch outside the hotel.
What I Wore: Cynthia Rowley dress// Tory Burch shoes//Chanel bag
After we toured the Franklin Institute, Red Bear was urgently hungry, and after just a short walk we found what turned out to be a real gem! It is called “Unit Su Vege,” on Hamilton Street, and it is a Chinese vegetarian restaurant, offering all sorts of plant-based “meats.” It was very yummy, and we tried several dishes – a meaty soup for me, roast (fake) duck and barbecue (fake) pork for my vegan boys. If you go to the Franklin Institute, Unit Su Vege would be a good eating option to consider, for sure.
About The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia
Let me just put this out there up front: our visit to The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia was an amazing experience in luxury and hospitality! I don’t know how it happened, but we were upgraded to The Ritz-Carlton Suite, which is a penthouse as large as many homes, and more luxurious than most!
The Suite is on the 31st floor, and accessed by its own private elevator. It has two large bedrooms, two large bathrooms (the one Red Bear claimed for himself was all marble, thirty feet long, and nearly ten feet wide, to give you an idea of the luxury), a nice office/den that was great for my editorial work, a big living room, a dining room, a kitchen, even a laundry room, all beautifully furnished. I could get used to living that kind of life! I’m not sure our pictures do the suite justice, but check them out to get a feel.
The hotel itself is very grand and opulent – it was constructed more than 100 years ago as the headquarters of The Girard Trust, and served as headquarters of the Girard Bank for a long time. The Girard Bank has an interesting and important history. It was started by Stephen Girard, a French sea captain who settled in Philadelphia when the British Navy trapped his ship there in 1776. Unable to go to sea, he became a banker, and by the War of 1812 he was rich enough that he personally saved the United States government from financial collapse! By some measures, Stephen Girard is the fourth richest American of all time, was a great philanthropist in Philadelphia, and died without children. His bank was built in the neo-classical Beaux Artes style that was the trend in 1908, and The Ritz-Carlton has carefully preserved its grand architecture. It’s timeless, really.
The hotel lobby is like nowhere else, with a round oculus (skylight) in a dome high above the lobby to let in sunlight, soft metal tones, and bold patterns and classic columns all around. And marble everywhere! Sometimes I felt like I had traveled back in time to the elegant days a century ago, with horsedrawn carriages still clicking on the streets outside.
What I Wore: Carolina Herrera Dress & Shoes//Chanel Bag // Amazon Headband
Red Bear considers this was the best hotel room he has stayed in so far, and this young man has traveled a lot around the world with me. And I can tell why he loves it so. Like every Ritz-Carlton hotel, the staff is perfectly polite, efficient, friendly, and competent – you could not ask for anything more. But they even go beyond that, and provided us with sweet extra service, like children’s toys (puzzles and Monopoly, for example), and soft, white personalized robes for the whole family — very sweet and we are very impressed by it!
Red Bear especially loves the Monopoly game the hotel gifted to him, and the stuffed Lion King wearing a Ritz-Carlton logo scarf (By the way, after dinner one night in Philadelphia, the whole family played a very competitive game of Monopoly, and we had so much fun!)
For us, our experience at The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia created memories we will always remember fondly.
What I Wore: Tibi Dress // Chanel Bag// Tory Burch Shoes
Next stop: Georgetown, in the District of Columbia.
Big thanks to The Ritz-Carlton for working with us on this story; as always, all opinions are honestly our own.
Philadelphia is such a little historic place to visit … so beautiful!
🌸🍃ROSES FOR FRIDAYS 🌸🍃| by mia | A Creative Lifestyle Blog