F6 EZ EE KLMNO SUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2012

Escapes

Midweek in Philadelphia: What a dealIF YOU GO

GETTING THEREPhiladelphia is about 135 miles fromWashington up Interstate 95. Amtrakoffers service from Washington, with faresstarting at $35 each way. Megabus faresstart at $5 each way.

STAYING THEREThe Independent1234 Locust St.215-772-1440www.theindependenthotel.comA 24-room boutique hotel, a short walkfrom Old City, with complimentarybreakfast delivered to rooms and eveningwine/cheese Monday through Thursday.Rates start at $149.

Loews Philadelphia1200 Market St.215-627-1200www.loewshotels.comThe city’s first skyscraper is now one ofthe city’s best places to see Art Deco. Fullspa, salon and lap pool. Rates start at$199.

EATING THERETria Cafe1137 Spruce St.215-629-9200www.triacafe.comMonday-Thursday happy hour from 5 to 7p.m. features “5 for 5” — five items (whitewine, red wine, cheese plate and twobeers), each for $5.

HipCityVeg127 S. 18th Street215-278-7605hipcityveg.comNew vegan cafe near Rittenhouse Squarewith locally sourced produce andcompostable packaging. Arugula tacosalad, Philly steak, Ziggy (tempeh) burger,all $8.50.

Wedge + Fig160 N Third St.267-603-3090www.wedgeandfig.comGrilled cheese bar. Basic sandwich, $8.Add-ons include avocado, peanut butter,bacon, sauerkraut, marmite andtapenade. BYOB.

PLAYING THEREFree Library of Philadelphia1901 Vine St.215-686-5322www.freelibrary.orgUpcoming weekday author readingsinclude Tony Danza and AndrewMcCarthy. Free rare book departmenttour 11 a.m. daily.

Center City Pretzel816 Washington Ave.215-463-5664www.centercitypretzel.comThis South Philly bakery opens forbusiness at midnight Monday throughFriday. Three pretzels for $1.

Rosenbach Museum and Library2008-2010 Delancey Pl.215-732-1600www.rosenbach.orgNew exhibit on Maurice Sendak’s work,including some pieces from “Where theWild Things Are.” $10 includes a tour ofthe historic house.

INFORMATIONwww.visitphilly.com

— M.D.G.K.

BY MELANIE D.G. KAPLAN

Ah, the ambiguous days of summer.The lines between weekdays and -endsbecome blurry, and we have a pass formaking any day of the week a play day. Itwas with this in mind that I decided to dosomething wacky: I planned a weekendgetaway to Philadelphia smack in themiddle of the week.

I rounded up my get-outta-town girl-friends, and on a Wednesday morning,we headed north into Philly. Over thenext 30 hours, we discovered a city thatmore or less belonged to us. We foundourselves alone in a museum, befriendedbartenders and shopkeepers who hadnothing better to do than share their lifestories with us, stumbled upon somesweet weekday-only deals and happen-ings, and never waited for a drink or atable. Our only regret: that we hadn’t alsobeen there for Monday and Tuesday.

After we’d checked into our hotel andhad lunch, we walked through Ritten-house Square to the Rosenbach Museumand Library, which just opened a year-long exhibit on Maurice Sendak’s work. Ifyou’re searching for a place to stock up onterrific “Where the Wild Things Are”merchandise, the museum’s gift shop hasit all.

More walking and window-shoppingled us to wine bar Tria for weekdayhappy-hour specials, where we enjoyed atotal of three drinks and a cheese platefor $20. We sat at a sidewalk table andtried to plan our night. I had printed outan ambitious list that I only later realizedwould take a month of weeknights tocover; there’s a lot going on here duringthe week. For starters, there’s movienight at the historic burlesque TrocaderoTheatre on Mondays; the Erotic LiterarySalon at the restaurant and whiskey barTime once a month on Tuesdays; movienight at Nomad Pizza on Wednesdays; adrag show at Bob & Barbara’s Lounge onThursdays; and happy hour every week-night at Barcade, a bar where you canplay classic ’80s arcade games for 25cents a pop.

We decided that more cheese wouldhelp us figure out what to do with ourevening. So we ate dinner in the tinyenchanted courtyard of Wedge + Fig inOld City, not far from the Liberty Bell andIndependence Hall. Here, we faced moredecisions: havarti, Gouda, Manchego,gruyere, brie, cheddar or fontina on thebuild-your-own-grilled-cheese sand-wich?

After dinner we walked to NationalMechanics for the tail end of trivia night.The bar is in a beautiful old bank build-ing, with glowing, fox-like taxidermiedanimals hanging from the ceilings. Abartender named Evan served our drinksin glasses stamped with pictures of Phillycharacters like former mayor Frank Riz-zo and Rocky Balboa. I got serial killerGary Heidnik.

Evan told us that the bar holds sciencetalks every second Monday of the month(mating habits of giraffes, anyone?) andkaraoke every Tuesday. He said thatweekdays at the bar are a differentanimal. “Sunday through Thursday, youget people who live and work in theneighborhood,” he said. “Friday and Sat-urday, you have college kids, people fromNew Jersey, and generally people whojust come to drink.”

We invited Evan to join us on our hotpretzel adventure that night — Center

City Pretzel sells them right out of theoven when it opens at midnight. But hisshift lasted until 2 a.m.

To kill time before midnight, we wentto Sugar’s, a basement dive bar in an oldsugar refinery. We were the only ones atthe bar and were happy to find a $3burger weekday special, even though wewere far from hungry. The two bartend-ers entertained us with a conversationabout their bands, which they describedas “super-punk” and “post-punk.”

Past South Street, we walked at a fastclip (regretting that we hadn’t cabbed it)through a gritty neighborhood, en routeto our hot pretzels. When we arrived, thegarage door was open, and the breadysmell was so seductive, I expected to seeit wafting out of the building. A guynamed Chris, in a Phillies T-shirt and cap,offered us a quick tour. We got to see19,000 machine-twisted dough pretzels

in the freezer and the 13-minute paththey take in the oven. Most are sold tostreet vendors and schools. Chris told usthat you need a chemical to make thepretzels brown. “They don’t bake thatcolor,” he said, “naturally.”

We took our bag of perfectly brownedhot pretzels, hailed a cab and headed toour hotel. The cab driver was seduced bythe pretzel smell, too. As we paid him, heshamelessly asked whether we had anyleftovers. “Nope,” I said.

The next morning, we grabbed somemorning brew and walked to Philadel-phia’s tallest and newest tower, the Com-cast Center. I wanted to see the lobbyvideo wall, which is supposed to be theworld’s largest LED screen. We stoodthere, transfixed, watching amazinglyclear and artsy video snippets — from aspace shuttle launch to a quirky bit thatmade it look as though people were

climbing up the lobby wall. Then wespent a few moments feeling smug aboutbeing in an office building on a weekdayand not having to work, while all theworkers floated through security withouta glance at the amazing screen.

Our next stop was the Free Library ofPhiladelphia, which offers a tour of itsrare book collection every weekday at 11.The guide picked up a small brown claypiece that looked like a thick grahamcracker: It was a 5,000-year-old cunei-form tablet. She said that the writing onit documented a trade of sheep for goats.Then she unfolded an ancient triptychthat contained panels of an Egyptianpapyrus leaf scroll. Leaning in to look atthe plastic-covered pages of hieraticscript, I found that they oddly resembledthree flat screens. I felt a little embar-rassed that in such a place I was thinkingthat this venerable piece looked like aKindle.

We hopped onto the bus back to OldCity, where we checked out the funkyindependent shops that line Third Street.There’s a vintage shop that sells by thepound (Sazz Vintage), a boutique with acustom line of men’s button-down shirtswith vintage buttons (Franklin Square),and a cool clothing shop/gallery that hasmonthly exhibits on such eclectic thingsas surfboards and urban backyard chick-en-raising (Art in the Age of MechanicalReproduction).

Alas, the clock was ticking on ourweekday pass. As we were packing up atthe hotel, I looked out our 19th-floorwindow. Down below, the city bustledwith workday activity. On the sidewalk, Isaw a tiny awning covering an itty-bittycart. And I laughed, thinking about ourstrange midnight adventure and won-dering where the vendor bought his softpretzels.

Kaplan is a freelance writer in Washington.Her Web site is www.melaniedgkaplan.com.

MATT ROURKE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

On video: In the Comcast Center, second left, the city’s tallest tower, you can gape at the world’s largest LED screen.

BRYNN ANDERSCN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Get literary: Try the Rosenbach Museum and Library for an afternoon stop.

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