Way back on January 21st of this year I blogged about looking forward to trying Perch Pub for lunch. This week I flew into this pub, which is perched above Broad and Locust Streets, to meet a friend for lunch.
The space is warm with exposed brick walls and a nice bar. The food was good, too - or at least our salads were. The place was empty on a Tuesday at high noon. I hope they make it as the pub seems like a great alternative to Sotto Varalli Restaurant, which is immediately downstairs, for the theater and after-work crowds. And the "perched" perspective provides a great view of the streets below. In fact, we saw Danny Bonaduce head down Locust Street on his scooter. It was a bird's eye view of a Partridge!
PIFA
On April 1st I blogged about the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, with a focus on the final event - the Parisian Street Fair - the last day of the festival. As it turns out, an estimated 150,000 people attended this event. I believe it, too. Broad Street between Chestnut and Lombard Streets was like being in a Tokyo subway at rush hour. I read that many of the poor folks going to the orchestra at the Kimmel Center that night were late because they had to work their way through the crowd.
The crowd in the Kimmel Center was deep at 7pm for the lighting of the "Eiffel Tower." The lighting was coordinated with music. It was a pleasant experience that left me dreaming of being in Paris.
After the lighting of the tower was over, the crowd moved like a wave back onto Broad and Locust Streets for the main event - the high-flying La Comagnie Transe Express. The show was supposed to begin at 7:30pm. The crowd was getting restless - and some briefly booed - when the show still hadn't started at 8:10pm. Someone near me had the crowd around us chuckle by screaming out, "Do something French!"
My "bad" foot and the leg to which it's attached were dreaming of sitting at a Parisian cafe but they - and I -persevered. And I'm glad I did. What a show. It was only 1/2 hour but the musicians - beating drums - and trapeze artists suspended hundreds of feet above Broad Street were a sight to behold. They were hanging on a giant contraption that flapped up and down and spun them around. It was a good night in Paris...uh...I mean Philly.
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