Northwest Airlines Flights from Houston (IAH) to Philadelphia (PHL)
Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on Northwest Airlines, which operates a daily non-stop flight from Houston (IAH) to Philadelphia (PHL) regularly scheduled to depart at 7:00pm and arrive at 11:16pm, and 2 additional non-stop flights, departing between 7:12am and 10:10am on select days of the week. The average travel time from Houston, TX to Philadelphia, PA is 3 hours and 9 minutes.*
* Some flights must connect with additional service on this airline.
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During your Philadelphia vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
University of Pennsylvania
You could call Philadelphia one big campus, with 27 degree-granting institutions within city limits and 50,000 annual college graduates. The oldest and most prestigious university is U. Penn. This private, coeducational Ivy League institution was founded by Benjamin Franklin and others in 1740. It boasts America's first medical (1765), law (1790), and business (1881) schools. Penn's liberal arts curriculum, dating from 1756, was the first to combine classical and practical subjects. The university has been revitalized in the last 30 years, thanks to extremely successful leadership, alumni, and fund-raising drives. Under President Judith Rodin, it's starting to reshape its neighborhood positively, with the successful Sansom Commons project across the street, including the wonderful Inn at Penn, retail stores, the stylish Bridge de Lux cinema at 40th and Walnut streets, and the massive Barnes & Noble-run university bookstore.The core campus, based in West Philadelphia since the 1870s, features serene Gothic-style buildings and specimen trees in a spacious quadrangle. Visitors can hang out comfortably on the lawns and benches. More modern buildings are results of the 20th-century expansion of the university to accommodate 22,000 students enrolled in four undergraduate and 12 graduate schools, in 100 academic departments. Sights of most interest to visitors include the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and the always intriguing Institute of Contemporary Art, with its changing exhibits.
Barnes Foundation
The magnificent Barnes Foundation, just outside the city limits in suburban Merion, will enchant you. Albert Barnes crammed his French provincial mansion, built around 1925, with more than 1,000 masterpieces -- 180 Renoirs, 69 Cézannes, innumerable Impressionists and post-Impressionists, and a generous sampling of European art from the Italian primitives onward. Each wall is filled with masterpieces, hung, literally, from floor to ceiling. The Barnes reopened in November 1995 after a world tour of more than 80 masterworks from the collection and a $12-million renovation of the galleries.Barnes believed that art has a quality that can be explained objectively -- for example, one curve will be beautiful and hence art, and another that's slightly different will not be art. That's why the galleries display antique door latches, keyholes, keys, and household tools with strong geometric lines right next to the paintings. Connections beg to be drawn between neighboring objects -- an unusual van Gogh nude, an Amish chest, New Mexico rural icons. Virtually every first-rank European artist is included: Degas, Seurat, Bosch, Tintoretto, Lorrain, Chardin, Daumier, Delacroix, Corot, and more. Not a bad use of a fortune made from patent medicine!The bad news is that the Barnes organization is rife with lawsuits, and due to complaints of "not in my backyard" neighbors who object to crowds, visiting hours are extremely limited and require reservations far in advance. Summer hours in July and August are Wednesday through Friday; in other months, the museum is open Friday through Sunday. In fall 2002, the Trustees filed court papers to move the museum to a new downtown home on Benjamin Franklin Parkway, against the wishes of Dr. Barnes; this has brought a raft of new controversy, though many Philadelphians would love to see the collection in a more accessible venue near other top museums. The historic building could then remain as an educational facility. Stay tuned, and call well ahead of your anticipated visit for reservations.
Rodin Museum
The beautiful, intimate Rodin Museum, in a 1929 Paul Cret building, exhibits the largest collection of the master's work (129 sculptures) outside the Musée Rodin in Paris. It has inherited its sibling museum's romantic mystery, making a very French use of space inside and boasting much greenery outside. Entering from the Parkway, virtually across the street from the Franklin Institute, you'll contemplate The Thinker, then pass through an imposing arch to a front garden of hardy shrubs and trees surrounding a fish pond. Before going into the museum, study the Gates of Hell. These gigantic doors reveal the artist's power to mold metal with his tremendous imagination.The galleries had a top-to-bottom renovation 5 years ago. The main hall holds authorized casts of John the Baptist, The Cathedral, and The Burghers of Calais. Several of the side chambers and the library hold powerful erotic plaster models. Drawings, sketchbooks, and Steichen photographic portraits of Rodin are exhibited from time to time.
Thomas Bond House
This 1769 Georgian row house sits almost directly across from the back of Independence Park in busy Old City, and is owned by the federal government, which kept the shell and gutted the interior. The guest rooms are cheerful, comfortable, Colonial-style accommodations, renovated completely in 2002. The entrance is decorated with map illustrations and secretary desks. The charming parlor has pink sofas and a replica Chippendale double chair, while the breakfast room has four tables for four. All rooms are individually decorated and feature private bathrooms and period furnishings. Fresh-baked cookies are put out each evening for bedtime snacking. The hotel is named for its first occupant, the doctor who co-founded Pennsylvania Hospital with Benjamin Franklin.
Sheraton Rittenhouse Square
This attractive, renovated 1930s apartment building is spare and sleek, and one of the best values in its neighborhood, with its location right on urbane Rittenhouse Square. The hotel is marketed as the first "environmentally smart" hotel in the continental United States, with fresh filtered air, organic cotton bedding, bamboo plants and recycled granite in the lobby, energy efficient lighting, and no smoking anywhere. (You agree to pay $50 as a sanitizing fee if you smoke in the rooms.) Rooms are modern and very comfortable, with pretty striped wallpaper and deep chairs; a spacious 400 square feet on average, with 9 1/2-foot ceilings and state-of-the-art technology. The same standards of care and cleanliness apply to the large, marbled bathrooms. Many have separate sitting areas and balconies, and kitchenettes are available. I'd avoid the interior rooms, facing all-night airshaft lighting instead of Rittenhouse Square.Bleu is the hotel's low-key bistro and cafe with outdoor seating, while Potcheen Restaurant, facing Locust Street, is very casual, with American fare.
Crowne Plaza Philadelphia Center City
The Crowne Plaza offers solid, generic, primarily business-traveler-oriented accommodations. It's popular with conventioneers and relocating executives, and prices are competitive in an effort to maintain occupancy. The lobby, which dispenses coffee and apples all day, has entrances from both 18th Street and the garage. A parking garage and meeting halls occupy the next six floors, and rooms and several suites fill the next 17 floors. By Philadelphia standards, the rooms are large, and they were renovated in 2004. Furnishings include coffeemakers, telephones with dataports, and plush carpeting. Bathrooms are slightly shabby. Two floors are devoted to Executive Level suites, offering upgraded decor and complimentary breakfast. There is an espresso bar and a casual pub, the Elephant & Castle, on the lobby level.
