I can live without nachos. I am also a fan of sausage. Since I'm pregnant, I will eat pretty much anything that is terrible for me.

I lived in NYC for 5 years and moved to Philly just over 2 years ago. I have never looked back. I rarely even visit NYC even though my parents and 2 siblings live there. I love Philadelphia. It is a city with soul. Yes it is dirty and grimey some places, but it has real history and charm. I love D.C. too with it's beautiful laid out streets and Chicago is wonderful too. But Philly is a little gem that just needs a little more brotherly and sisterly love.

Things that I love about Philly:
It has real neighborhoods
You actually run into people that you know on the street and they say hello!
The best and cheapest BYOB restaurants.
You can actually get into movies, plays, and cultural events without paying a million dollars and buying 3 months in advance.
We have cool festivals like the free arts festival, fringe fest, amazing art movie houses like the Ritz.
We have the best live music as far as I can tell on the entire east coast and a kick ass public radio station WXPN.
The weather is tolerable. Forget winter in Chicago- you might as well shrivel up and die.
Amazing local beers!
Most of all you can actually afford to live in a really nice place either renting or if you buy and still be able to enjoy all the above. That is the true key to quality of life.

Here's what you do...

Go to one of those big bookstores (or small ones) and buy
a slim Philadelphia guide book (preferably one with glossy
pictures), and leave it in on the loo.

Who knows, it may be a gentle (however superficial) enough
introduction to the city, to spark his interest. Then again, the
info highway is probably a much quicker way of getting here.

As for what make it great? The people. ...oh and of course the
history, architecture, cultural events and all that stuff that
comes with urban living.

New high quality schools within schools initiatives in more affordable neighborhoods:

http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/c...academies.html

Doubt this really makes a whole lot of input, but my view on Philadelphia:

I move here from just outside Detroit, and also lived in southern Illinois for several years. I love Philadelphia. It has so much to offer. I too love DC, having visited there many times, but the cost is just too high. To get the full value of DC, one has to have a fair bit of money. To use that same amount of money in Philadelphia, one can get considerably more. The same is true for Chicago - that one can get more value out of the dollar in Philly than Chicago. I've been there several times. There are several things I love about it, but overall, I just never thought it an inviting city and I never felt I could just melt into the city. I love the museums, but Philly wins on that one overall. Navy Pier is better than the Penn's Landing, but downtown Philly comes across as much more welcoming than downtown Chicago. And the winter - it really does suck. Chicago's just a bunch of tall buildings that trap people and cold together into a miserable existence.

Another clear winner is proximity to other cities. The closest cities to Chicago are Milwaukee and Detroit - both are ok, but don't have nearly as much to offer as the cities near Philly - DC, NY, and Boston. As to museums, think of your child. Wouldn't it be great to be able to take your child to the Franklin Insitute? The Camden Aquarium? An hour to the ocean - not a wimpy lake, but the ocean?

Philly has it all - museums, theater, sports (and the die-hard, cynical fans), restaurants, architecture (Philly actually has architecture for various centuries, not just the 20th), trees, Valley Forge, rowing (eh, not much for me, but maybe hubby?), music (ok, it should have fans to go with that), did I mention restaurants?, and attitude. I love this city.