My first solo walk in Philadelphia took place in June 1979, when I came to take placement exams in anticipation of my freshman year at the University of Pennsylvania. A true country girl, I grew up walking in the orchards and state parks of Southeast Pennsylvania and Northeast Maryland, USA, with my parents and siblings.
When the Greyhound bus dropped me at Philadelphia’s bus depot at 17th and
Market on that June morning, I realized I knew nothing about the train system, so I turned West and walked the twenty blocks in the direction of the University. It was a little scary for this country hick, but also very exciting.
I ended up staying at Penn through undergraduate school and all the way to an advanced degree - I was there for more than a decade. I lived near, but not inside, Philadelphia for almost three more decades until my husband’s job took us away to Singapore in 2018, walking all the while.
During the pandemic lockdown periods, I tallied many miles. Health regulations and cabin fever caused me to walk the perimeter and crisscross the island of Singapore.
When we decided to leave and return to the USA in September 2023, we still glowed from our happy urban experience. We wanted to hold on to it, so we sought an apartment in Philadelphia’s urban Graduate Hospital neighborhood.
A few weeks and long walks later, I could not help but see that despite the chaos, considerable grittiness, and dirt, Philadelphia has some great urban energy and many wonderful rambles to explore.
Center City Philadelphia - Logan Circle Fountain by Alexander Stirling Calder
Lonely Planet travel guides recently named Philadelphia one of the top ten cities in the world to visit, with Michelin Guides adding that it is among the most French of American cities.
When I arrived here in September, temperatures were similar to those we typically endured in Singapore (meaning super hot), though humidity levels were lower, and walking around was not the sweat bath it could be in the tropics.
Leda and the Swan is one of many sculptures in Rittenhouse Square.
We began at Rittenhouse Square, between 18th and 20th Streets, Walnut and Locust. The square is one of four laid out in William Penn’s Greene Country Towne plan of the 1600’s. It is by far the most well-cared-for and elegant of these squares, with towering sycamore trees, elegant bronze sculptures, fountains, and pathways bordering well-tended green spaces.
Rittenhouse Square
Depending on the clock, you might arrive during dads’ time with toddlers, farmers’ market shopping time, chess-players tournament time, gospel-singing time, dog-walkers meetup, rough sleepers' morning ablutions, or lovers’ gaze-into-my-eyes hour.
Each of William Penn’s squares is six and a half acres in area, so they provide space for all of these people and for those of us walking through to watch them in action.
From Rittenhouse Square, there are several options, and every choice is a good one. Food, art galleries, and shopping are towards the east, and cafes, leafy streets, and window boxes are to the West and South. We chose North, though, because we wanted to visit another Square, the one that is a circle, and explore the Benjamin Franklin Parkway that leads from City Hall to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Following 19th Street North, we crossed about six blocks before arriving at Logan Circle and its extravagant fountains featuring allegories of the three Philadelphia rivers by sculptor Stirling Calder. BF Parkway was finished in 1917, a redevelopment project that sought to emulate the Champs Elysees of Paris. It does that quite successfully, with a wide, diagonal, tree-lined boulevard that gives way to the Art Museum and the largest city park in the USA.
Along its grand expanse are the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Philadelphia Public Library, and The Franklin Institute Science Museum. There’s also the Barnes Foundation, a private collection of Impressionist art and African sculpture, and the Rodin Museum, a branch of the Philadelphia Museum of Art displays a complete casting of the Burghers of Calais and the Gates of Hell, famous for the Thinker who is pondering how to keep himself out of said Hot Place.
Schuylkill River Rowers
What would a ramble to the Art Museum be without ascending the steps made famous by Sylvester Stallone in the 1976 movie Rocky? We climb all 72 steps, and we’re among many who snap pictures and videos of ourselves in front of Rocky Balboa’s statue when we come back down.
Then, we tour the museum grounds because the rewards of going that little distance more are great. The Philadelphia Waterworks, built in the late 1700s after a Greek Revival design by LaTrobe, is the first great American municipal water management plant.
The river is often bustling with crew teams practicing or racing from Girard Point to Boathouse Row, all historic and picturesque landmarks. A little ramble up Fairmount Avenue, going NE from the Art Museum, brings you to Eastern State Penitentiary, established by Quakers who, horrified by the prison conditions in England, wanted to create a place of contemplation to reform American convicts.
Eastern State is an imposing fortress with turrets and high walls, built to accommodate solitary confinement for each inmate. The social experiment did not work. In fact, prisoners sometimes went mad with the isolation, and some others were said to beg to be readmitted once their sentences were served; they felt so far removed from society.
Al Capone served his federal sentence for tax evasion there, in the comfort of a well-appointed cell, still on view for anyone who wishes to take the tour.
The Fairmount neighborhood is charming and leafy, full of pubs,
cafes, single-family homes, and condominium complexes, though no one place towers above any other. Behind the penitentiary, a community garden and an elementary school thrive.
Dining al fresco is common, and more people-watching for many blocks. One Sunday, when we wanted to cover more territory in this area, a bike-share option got us around more of the Fairmount neighborhood to see even more of the lovely brownstones and ornate brick row houses under sycamore, oak, and maple trees.
As newlyweds in the late 1980s, we explored the possibility of renting a place in Fairmount, but it was urban pioneer territory at that time. We could not bring ourselves to settle in a neighborhood that felt unsafe after dusk. Years of investment and public/private collaboration have changed that feel completely in many parts of Philadelphia. An afternoon walk that became an evening walk did not make me hasten my steps.
I’ve always loved familiar corners of Philadelphia, and I feel so fortunate to have returned to a place where I can love and savor even more of the city. We make a brief stop at Whole Foods on Pennsylvania Avenue to grab some refreshments for our arrival home, then walk south on 22nd Street until it intersects with the Parkway once again, where we turn left.
Walking toward City Hall, we pass through Logan Square and arrive at Sister Cities Park in front of the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Paul. We then continue making our right turn at Dilworth Plaza, at City Hall.
We’ve passed through Love Park and will go to Locust Street, where the Curtis Institute of Music students can be heard rehearsing their classical instruments. This will lead us right back up to Rittenhouse Square. Yes, there are that many parks, public works of art, and innumerable options for food and drinks, music, and people-watching—and only 10 km.
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