For those who don't know, I am from the Philadelphia area, lived in Philadelphia a while, but have since moved to NYC. I am down often for work, but don't have much time to explore. But my boyfriend and I spent this weekend in Philadelphia! We stayed at The W, and made a point to walk all corners of Center City, and then made our way to Fishtown / Northern Liberties. We also ate and drank very well
We had a fantastic time! The city was bustling, lots of people out and about (many of them tourists), and restaurants, bars, stores, etc., were all busy. The hotel was packed, and the amount of construction in Center City and especially Fishtown / Northern Liberties was really impressive. It made me miss Philadelphia a lot.
A few other points...
1. I still think parts of Center City need more street level beautification, notably new sidewalks and landscaping improvements, and also more trashcans.
2. There were some drugged out homeless people in certain areas, but nowhere near as bad as the West Coast.
3. We were woken up by insane dirt bike & ATV revving around ~2am.