United Airlines Flights from Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) to Philadelphia (PHL)
As part of booking roundtrip flights which depart from US airports,
Orbitz is pleased to offer airline tickets on United Airlines, which operates a non-stop flight everyday except Monday and Saturday from Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) to Philadelphia (PHL), regularly scheduled to depart at 12:35pm and arrive at 3:25pm. Usually a Boeing 767 is flown for this route. The average travel time from Amsterdam, Netherlands to Philadelphia, PA is 8 hours and 50 minutes.
During your Philadelphia vacation, don't miss these great establishments and attractions:
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Even on a hazy day you can see America's third-largest art museum from City Hall -- a resplendent, huge, beautifully proportioned Greco-Roman temple on a hill. Because the museum, established in the 1870s, has relied on donors of great wealth and idiosyncratic taste, the collection does not aim to present a comprehensive picture of Western or Eastern art. But its strengths are dazzling: It houses undoubtedly one of the finest groupings of art objects in America, and no visit to Philadelphia would be complete without at least a walk-through; allow 2 hours minimum. Late hours on Friday have become a city favorite, and there is a new bar open in summer in the elegant front courtyard overlooking the city skyline.The museum is designed simply, with L-shaped wings off the central court on two stories. A major rearrangement of the collections was recently completed, and paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts are grouped within set periods. The front entrance (facing City Hall) admits you to the first floor. Special exhibition galleries and American art are to the left; the collection emphasizes that Americans came from diverse cultures, which combined to create a new, distinctly national aesthetic. French- and English-inspired domestic objects, such as silver, predominate in the Colonial and Federal galleries, but don't neglect the fine rooms of Amish and sturdy Shaker crafts. The 19th-century gallery has many works by Philadelphia's Thomas Eakins, which evoke the spirit of the city in watercolors and oils.Originally controversial 19th- and 20th-century European and contemporary art galleries highlight Cézanne's monumental Bathers and Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase, which doesn't seem nearly as revolutionary as it did in 1913. The recent gift of the McIlhenny $300-million collection of paintings is one of the great donations of this type and adds strength in the French Impressionist area.Upstairs, spread over 83 galleries, is a chronological sweep of European arts from medieval times through about 1850. The John G. Johnson Collection, a Renaissance treasure trove, has been added to the museum's holdings. Roger van der Weyden's diptych Virgin and Saint John and Christ on the Cross, one of the Johnson Collection, is renowned for its exquisite sorrow and beauty. Another, Van Eyck's Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata, is unbelievably precise (borrow the guard's magnifying glass). Other masterpieces include Poussin's frothy Birth of Venus (the USSR sold this and numerous other canvases in the early 1930s, and many were snapped up by American collectors) and Rubens's sprawling Prometheus Bound. The remainder of the floor takes you far away -- to medieval Europe, 17th-century battlefields, Enlightenment salons, and Eastern temples.The museum has excellent dining facilities. A cafe, open Tuesday through Sunday from 10am to 4:30pm, dispenses simple and reasonable lunches and salads. The museum restaurant down the hall is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11:30am to 2:30pm, Sunday from 11am to 3:30pm. All main courses are under $20. There's also a lovely little Balcony Café just up the stairs as you enter the museum, for espresso, soups, sandwiches, and pastries.The PMA has brought millions into the economy over the past decade with blockbuster exhibits of works by Picasso, Cézanne, van Gogh, and Degas, plus mounted wonderful fashion exhibits of Schiaparelli. The Museum recently acquired a massive Art Deco former insurance headquarters a block away, though they are not sure what they will feature here.
Franklin Court
Franklin Court is an imaginative, informative, and downright fun (and free) museum run by the National Park Service. Designed by noted architect Robert Venturi, it was very much a sleeper when it opened in April 1976, because Market and Chestnut streets' arched passages give little hint of the court and exhibit within.Franklin Court was once the home of Benjamin Franklin, who had resided with his family in smaller row houses in the neighborhood prior to living here. Like Jefferson at Monticello, Franklin planned much of the interior design of the house, though he spent the actual building period first as Colonial emissary to England, and then to France. His wife, Deborah, oversaw the construction, as the flagstones engraved with some of her correspondence show, while Ben sent back continental goods and a constant stream of advice. Sadly, they were reunited in the family plot at Christ Church Burial Ground, since Deborah died weeks before the end of Ben's 10-year absence. Under the stewardship of his daughter Sarah and her husband, Richard Bache, Franklin Court provided a comfortable home for Ben until his death in 1790.Since archaeologists have no exact plans of the original house, a simple frame in girders indicates its dimensions and those of the smaller print shop. Excavations have uncovered wall foundations, bits of walls, and outdoor privy wells, and these have been left as protected cutaway pits. It is all very interesting, but enter the exhibition for the really fun part. After a portrait and furniture gallery, a mirrored room reveals Franklin's far-ranging interests as a scientist, an inventor, a statesman, a printer, and so on. At the Franklin Exchange, dial various American and European luminaries to hear what they thought of Franklin.The middle part of the same hall has a 15-minute series of three climactic scenes in Franklin's career as a diplomat. On a sunken stage, costumed doll figures brief you, and each other, on the English Parliament in 1765, the Stamp Act, the Court at Versailles (when its members were wondering whether to aid America in its bid for independence), and the debates of the Constitution's framers in 1787, which occurred right around the corner at Independence Hall. Needless to say, Ben's pithy sagacity wins every time.On your way in or out on the Market Street side, stop in the 1786 houses that Ben rented out. One is the Printing Office and Bindery, where you can see Colonial methods of printing and bookmaking in action. The house at 322 Market St. is the restored office of The Aurora and General Advertiser, the newspaper published by Franklin's grandson. Next door, get a letter postmarked at the Benjamin Franklin Post Office (remember, Ben was Postmaster General, too!). Employees still stamp the marks by hand. Upstairs, a postal museum is open in summer.
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Located 2 blocks north of City Hall is the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), a wonderful museum and teaching facility that was the first art school in the country (1805) and at one time the unquestioned leader of American Beaux Arts. After a major renovation in late 1994, the academy, housed in a stunning Frank Furness building, unveiled a major reinstallation of 300 works from the past 200 years; another 2004-2005 restoration effort is brightening the jewel tones of the gorgeous, hand-painted decorative ceilings and the overall look of the landmark museum and school.The ground floor houses an excellent bookstore, a cafe, and the academy's offices. A splendid staircase, designed by Furness, shines with red, gold, and blue. Each May the annual academy school exhibition takes over the museum. The school itself moved to 1301 Cherry St. years ago, but has acquired and is renovating the factory building to its north to recentralize operations.As is evident from the PAFA galleries, such early American painters as Gilbert Stuart, the Peale family, and Washington Allston congregated in Philadelphia, America's capital and wealthiest city. The main galleries feature works from the museum's collection of more than 6,000 canvases. The rotunda has been the scene of cultural events ever since Walt Whitman listened to concerts here. The adjoining rooms display works from the illustrious mid-19th-century years, when PAFA enjoyed its most innovative period.
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.
Wyndham Philadelphia at Franklin Plaza
The Wyndham has been functioning as a convenient meeting center since 1980, and now the convention center, only 4 blocks away, fills this hotel sporadically. The complex dominates a full city block (unfortunately near the busy Vine St. Expwy.), and the lobby, lounge, and two restaurants are integrated under a 70-foot glass roof. The Wyndham lobby shows definite signs of fatigue, but is about to be renovated, and a 2004 update of the guest rooms has freshened their look. Request a west view above the 19th floor for an unobstructed peek at the Parkway, but be forewarned that the cathedral bells below ring at 7am, noon, and 6pm daily. Bathrooms are clean and bland.
Rodeway Inn
This member of the Rodeway franchise chain is comprised of seven floors of comfortable, bigger-than-average rooms renovated 2 years ago, with solid-core doors, four-poster beds, and private bathrooms. Six rooms boast Jacuzzis, and all rooms have dial-up or wireless Internet access. The front desk is attended 24 hours a day. All suites have gas fireplaces. A state-of-the-art gym is available around the corner for $12.
