My favorite drive features long stretches of Philadelphia's park system. Begin with a jaunt over to Chestnut Hill, where Willow Grove Avenue nips past Pastorious Park, continuing to St. Martin's Lane (left) to Mermaid Lane (right) to Cherokee Street (left) to Allens Lane (right) which becomes Wissahickon Avenue, then right onto to my mega-beloved uber-windy roady Lincoln Drive which becomes the East River Drive; nip across the river at Falls Bridge, then up the West River Drive (aka Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive) that swoops you back across the river to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway!
Head up (right) the Parkway, all the way to City Hall; loop around City Hall, then be prepared for the stunning drive back down the Parkway ~ ~ past the grand fountains at Logan Square (which I've always thought of as a circle, since the Parkway circles around the fountains), past epic buildings to your left & right (including - but not limited to - the Cathedral Bascilica of Saints Peter & Paul, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences). Drive past the flags of the nations, which line the Parkway, snapping in the breeze. There, in front of you, in all its eye-popping glory, is the Philadelphia Art Museum!! Never ever fails to give me a thrill!!
As you approach the Art Museum, you have a choice - take Kelly Drive back to the River & Lincoln Drives for the return home OR do a backtrack & head back over to the West River Drive, which requires a bit of a deft driving? I'm a sucker for beauty, so I forego the Kelly Drive to return the same way I came.
Same route, but totally different view - the drive in blows your socks off with stunning vistas of Philadelphia & the Art Museum, but it's on the return drive that you get to really soak in the famous Boat House Row in all its glory.
Love it! Love it! Love it!
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