There’s one mass transit organization, SEPTA, that covers the whole Pennsylvania commuteshed, which sounds like it’d be something that could plan things in an intelligent way but really it’s this miscellaneous bag created to hold all of the existing transit systems – and this being one of the oldest major cities in the hemisphere, never destroyed by fire or war, they were expanded piecewise along lines that made sense at various points since the 1700s

So you have things like there’s only 3 subway lines in the city but one of them is really an El, and one of them is run by New Jersey, but there are Boston-style underground tram tunnels and trolleys and buses AND trolleybuses and light rail and commuter rail

What else – the area was heavily settled by Dutch, Welsh, and regional German pioneers and a lot of stuff was given native names, then all of it got mangled pronunciation later, so there’s a ton of local shibboleths

The Schuylkill River is a major venue for collegiate rowing, and a lot of old-line schools maintain nice boathouses lining it.

Cheesesteaks are particularly associated with these two short-order grills, Pat’s and Geno’s, located across from each other at the same intersection

Soft pretzels, the city’s other iconic food, are baked early each day and sold to street vendors who show up everywhere