Benjamin Franklin Parkway, architecturally reminiscent of the Champs-Elysees, is home to more museums than any other boulevard in the world. Among them stands the internationally renowned Philadelphia Museum of Art, including highlights of 2,000 years of world art and one of the finest collections of impressionism ever assembled. Aside from the many wondrous art treasures, the most significant cultural asset might well be Philadelphia Orchestra, often feted as the "greatest orchestra in the world".
And nowhere in the world are there so many fine educational institutions as centrally located in the Greater Delaware Valley, including such prestigious schools as the University of Pennsylvania, Bryn Mawr College, Villanova University, the University of Delaware, and Rutgers University. Twenty colleges and universities are located within the city limits, including 5 teaching hospitals. The outlying area is home to 50 or more, making the region a vanguard in education. Since the 18th century, Philadelphia has been internationally recognized as a leader in industry, science, law, and medicine. Now in the 1990's, the area has been transformed from a manufacturing center to a service center for insurance, finance investments, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology.
The economic climate in the Greater Delaware Valley has never been better. Prosperity flourishes not only in the 202 corridor, but also along Interstates 476, 95, and 76. The high-tech business boom has had a revolutionary impact on local businesses. Many areas have top-notch industrial parks, as well as corporate and regional headquarters, nestled in some of the most lush and plush suburbs found anywhere.
Every summer the region puts on its party-best and is abuzz with continuous and wide-ranging festivity. From Rittenhouse Square to Newtown Square, celebration of the rich legacy left to today's Philadelphians by their benevolent founding fathers abound.
From the restored splendor of Society Hill to the countrified charm of Chadds Ford, each community offers its own hometown hallmark. For example, Philadelphia's Main Line has a cachet of its very own. Here, traditions, customs and manners handed down through the generations, have preserved a gracious way of life seldom found today. Home range from charming cottages and carriage houses to palaces modeled after Versailles.
Social calendars are jam packed year-round, whether they belong to the city slicker or the country squire, because there is so much to do. Since the mid-seventies, the entire Philadelphia area has been caught up in the "restaurant renaissance," in which over 500 restaurants have opened their doors to rave reviews nationwide. Menus and settings cater to every imaginable palate. Offerings range from caviar-pearled quail eggs, served amidst Louis XVI furnishings to yum num tok, a Tai speciality, served with the glow of lantern light. Throughout the Greater Delaware Valley, the after-dinner night life throbs with energy and excitement, from spectacular nightclub revues in Valley Forge to intimate piano bars in Center City, Philadelphia. Just a short distance away is Wilmington's Hotel Dupont, the city's own grandame, with dinner in the fabulous Green Room featuring fine cuisine impeccably served-amidst the warmth and sophistication that is hers alone.
The shopping opportunities are extraordinary. The region combines a connoisseur's paradise with bargain-hunter's bounty by providing virtually every type of shopping experience. The Bourse is an opulently restored cosmopolitan marketplace that houses a discriminating selection of Philadelphia's most elegant shops. For suburban shopping, there's the Court and the Plaza at King of Prussia, one of the largest shopping complexes in the world.
The area's best selection of off-price shopping is found just a short drive from the city. Places like the renowned Flemington Mall and the Reading Outlets offer not only great discounts on designer clothes, but tremendous bargains on furs, fine china, silver, home furnishings, and just about any other imaginable item. And when it comes to fine older collectibles, some have been known to "antique" their way clear from the thriving artist colony of New Hope to the restored town of West Chester, negotiating all the way! When all that shopping works up an appetite, gourmets-on-the-go turn to some of the area's own originals: soft pretzels with mustard and the ever-popular Philadelphia cheese steak sandwich.
For those who prefer more peaceful pastimes, within a short drive of the hustle of Center City, Philadelphia, the city gives way to rural grandeur that typifies the Greater Delaware Valley. Many find the peace and tranquility of the surrounding suburban communities is the perfect antidote to the executive headaches. Charming covered bridges and 18th century fieldstone farmhouses are scattered throughout the pristine meadows of Chester county. Bucks county, with its wonderful mix of historic and artistic tradition, has some of the most quaint architecture found on the east coast, including covered barns, restored grist mills, and gingerbread Victorian homes.
Even though locals enjoy such a comfortable lifestyle they have never lost their competitive edge. Especially when it comes to their favorite sports. Crew racing is the sport Philadelphians feel they have perfected. The Independence Day Regatta draws thousands to the banks of the Schuylkill River to watch that elegant sport immortalized by painter Thomas Eakins. The golf tradition and facilities here are superior. The area has top flight professional sports teams- the Philadelphia Eagles, 76er's, Phillies, and the Flyers.
It's all here: competitive sports, excellent cultural institutions, unrivaled educational opportunity, and a great economic climate. All this combined with that subtle, wondrous blend of old ways with new ideas, of the familiar with the extraordinary, makes the Greater Delaware Valley a wonderful place to call home.