With the premise that we must see the current Matisse in the Thirties exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, even though none of us is a huge Matisse fan, I devised a mini-vacation to Philly for our little family. Christmas in Philadelphia, we were assured by tourism sites, is full of lights, vibrancy, and shopping opportunities.
We’d been to New York City at Christmastime in the past, and it was a big, crowded mess around Times Square and Rockefeller Center. Exciting, buzzing with activity, but a bit too frenetic for me. Downtown Philly had a lot of energy, but a much more relaxed and laid-back excitement. It seemed more full of locals than tourists.
It helped that everything we set out to see downtown was very compact, within an easy walking distance of the downtown hotel we picked. And, even though Philly has a sort of rough, gritty reputation for those of us from “more civilized” Washington, DC, even after dark we felt perfectly safe.
Here is our Philly travelogue in photos and captions. Thanks, Philly, for sharing your exuberant holiday spirit with our family. Here’s hoping everyone finds and keeps their own inspiration for a safe, happy and healthy holiday and carries that feeling into 2023!