A basic tourguide to Reading, PA (or, the things I do when I'm not reading)

I've always lived in big cities before, and when I moved to a relatively small town, I wondered what I was going to do with myself.

But it is a fact that it’s not the place , it’s what you do there (and anyway, I was never a nightlife person- catch me going out after 8pm!)

And these are some of the things I do:

1.Shop. Shop,shop,shop till you drop. This used to be the outlet capital of the world (here’s the New York Times article to prove it.

The Vanity Fair outlets are the ultimate shopaholics paradise; I always find that things are cheaper there than in even other outlet stores with the same brand. And when you’re done with those, you can head to Limerik or Lancaster ( Rockvale and Tanger , all at less than a half ann hours drive for fore outlet shopping.

They’ve recently opened Reading. IMAX theatre in Reading. Now with what hope they went and opened it in the very center of downtown I don’t know. I would certainly never go for a night show there… but for a Sunday afternoon… I might. (PS. For the night show I’d go to Fox east; yes it’s tiny, but it’s safe and hey! Its right next to Boscov’s!)

2.Speaking of Boscov’s – Reading’s the base for the store. This is where they have their warehouse- and my favorite store’s the one in East Reading. Its one of the smaller one’s but again, I don’t know why, every thing just seems cheaper here. (It’s my favorite department store- not as blah as JCP, not as threateningly trendy as Macy’s).

3.Moving on to not shopping – There’s the Goggleworks studio: http://www.goggleworks.org/
where every second Sunday they have artists showing off their work and pottery and glass blowing classes.

4.There are also theatres: Sovereign Performance center, Sovereign theatre , Reading Eagle theatre … they have Broadway shows, music, … especially through winter. And its so much cheaper than New York!

5.Love the library. Reading down town library is a block from my office and it is awesome .

6.Pagoda… don’t ask me… it’s THE landmark around here, and I’ve never actually been there – only viewed it from a distance… here . Lots of interesting stories about it though.

7.Fruit picking. Ok, so you can do this anywhere, where they grow any kind of fruit pretty much. And I went to Styer’s Orchard in Langhorne myself. But there is this highly recommended place Weaver's orchard near Reading.

8.Places to eat … there’s this incredible Vietnamese place called Hong Thanh on 6^th street and Penn. Great food, amazing prices (three of us ate for 20 dollars!). Judy’s on Cherry is pretty good too… there’s this amazing little chocolate place called Haute Chocolate on Penn Ave. and a dessert place called Sweet Street Dessert in the Vanity fair outlet café.

What else to do? Well, what more do you need but a decent internet connection and cable TV?