For the Love Of… Part 2

Ah, love. Though we may not have an overflow of the brotherly variety, Philly is offering plenty of options for those happy couples looking to sanctify said happiness with boxes of chocolates and a night on the town. We’ll tackle the latter here; we've given you some chocolate-related goodness already.

If you forget to get a card and all the Rite Aid has left are American Idol Valentines, take heart: you can make your own at the Bellevue Food Court (Broad and Walnut) from 11AM-2PM for $7, with all proceeds going to the American Heart Association. Once you’re finished with that, run over to the Reading Terminal to see the annual Married at the Market; Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey P. Mineheart (hah!) will marry six couples, with The Kraft Trio providing the music, at noon.

Sure, you could go to a restaurant for a nice meal in the evening, but in the spirit of the holiday consider the Valentine’s Day Aphrodisiac Guided Tasting at Di Bruno Bros. (1730 Chestnut), sponsored by City Food Tours. If you haven’t stuffed yourself totally silly with cheese, you could go ice-skating at the RiverRink’s Sweetheart Skate (Columbus Blvd and Market) from 6-9PM; love songs will be on rotation, and ladies get a complimentary red flower (which sounds suspiciously like code for “carnation” to us, but what are you going to do. Buy her roses yourself, that’s what!).

If you’d rather sit still for the evening consider a musical interlude. Philly Pops will present Love at the POPS at 8PM at Kimmel’s Verizon Hall (260 S. Broad). To get a bit more high minded, the Curtis Institute will present L'elisir D'amore (The Elixir of Love to those of us who are Italian-challenged... at least, we think it's Italian...), a romantic comedy in opera form, at the Prince (1412 Chestnut) also at 8PM; if you miss it that night, you can catch it through the weekend. If you’ve just had enough of the hearts already by that point, check out the New Orleans band The Iguanas at World Café Live (3025 Walnut) at 7:30PM—you can take care of the dinner portion of your date while you’re there, too. And if you really, really have had enough of the lovey-dovey, head to the Society Hill Playhouse (507 S. 8th) for BCKSEET Productions 4th annual Valentine’s Day Sucks, a fundraiser for BCKSEET’s 2008-2009 season featuring local singer-songwriters, who we’re presuming have been warned to go easy on the Celine Dion covers. At least, we certainly hope so for their sake.

Image Credit: Flickr user CarbonNYC