Friday, April 26, 2013

If You Ever Find Yourself in Harrisburg, PA


If you've ever found yourself in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's centrally located capital, you probably took note in how underdeveloped it seems compared to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the state's more infamous cities (for the longest I assumed Philly was the capital). Harrisburg doesn't seem to offer much in terms of  "city life"but it definitely has its own character. I was temporarily located here for work and decided to explore the happenings downtown during some free time one evening. I made my way to North 3rd Street to take a look at the Capitol Building, one of Harrisburg's landmarks. I was totally blown away by the architecture, among some other things in Midtown during my wanderings. 
I can't help but take pictures of street art when I run into it.
Flats + cargo jacket + t-shit seems to be my uniform as of late. 
Hands down my absolute favorite place in Harrisburg was the Midtown Scholar Bookstore.  Located just a few blocks away from the Capitol building, its filled wall to wall  with new, used and rare books for sale, an art gallery upstairs with rotating exhibitions, and a cafe on the main floor. The vibe was refreshing-young and old studying or reading in one of the many tables and reading nooks, the studious ones enjoying free wifi with iced latte's in hand. It unlike anywhere else I had visited during my short stay in the 'burg, a city that just seemed kind of dead after 5pm (to note, Midtown Scholar leaves its doors open until 9pm on weekdays). They even host a poetry night from 7-9pm on Thursdays. I spent a couple hours in here flipping through the books and just enjoying the atmosphere.
Right across the street from Midtown Scholar (and viewable from it's upstairs gallery) is Broad Street Market, one of the longest running of its kind in the U.S! A total of forty ethnic and local food vendors offer an array of palate pleasing meals. I indulged in some Jamaican rice and peas and a vegetable curry patty while there. Surprisingly there were a lot of vegan options as well, think tofu scrambles and the like!

Afterwards I headed back to the capitol building in time to watch the sun set over the city.


I'm looking forward to coming come back for a day trip, I think this city deserves a little more exploration, and its only about 1.5 hours and a $7 toll away from Philly. My day plan includes: Indulging in a vegan breakfast at Boston Market, picking up some coffee and a few used books at Midtown Scholar, hunting for home decor items at the Shining Light Thrift Shop next door, museum hopping and soaking up some sun on City Island. Any other suggestions?

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