Five Fall Weekend Trips To Get You Out of Brooklyn
The Mütter Museum
Granted, Philadelphia is an ideal trip out of New York any time of year. Trains are cheap, buses are even cheaper, and it’s only a couple hours away, meaning you won’t have to kill too much of the weekend with travel time and can pick up and go more or less at the last minute. Arguably the biggest reason to visit this city, though, is the Mütter Museum, which correctly bills itself as “America’s finest museum of medical history” and is home to “beautifully preserved collections of anatomical specimens, models, and medical instruments in a 19th century ‘cabinet museum’ setting.” Meaning, then, that there’s no better time to visit here than in the weeks vaguely surrounding Halloween.
If you’re staying the night your best bet is to find a place on Airbnb (I once found a place in the historic district that was supposedly the onetime home of Hall & Oates), take a stroll through the intricately tile-covered galleries at Magic Gardens (a gallery that, incredibly, really does live up to its name), and grab dinner somewhere like Ralph’s, which has been serving classics in the city’s Italian district since 1900. Assuming you have any appetite at all after seeing one of the Mütter Museum’s signature displays, a bloated, nine-foot human colon. Maybe just play it by ear.
The Mütter Museum, 19 S. 22nd St.
Airbnb Philadelphia
Magic Gardens, 1020 South St.
Ralph’s, 760 S. 9th St.