Saturday, September 26: The Pope Arrives

Bella

Well I woke myself at 6:30 AM so I could eat breakfast and take care the animals. They were quite friendly this morning. I took care the upstairs

Gizmo

cats change the litters and let the dogs out twice. 730 crawled

The Animals

around and I decided I would just take Uber all the way in and play it safe. Instead of taking the

brought walking to the Broad Street line and then going to Walnut Locust. I would just take over as far in as

Securtiy

I could go. That would be front and south so that's what I did. Well I got off at front and south and walk to a

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nice coffee shop and finish editing yesterday blog. After that I went to Larry's place and met up

Bizarre

with their friend and the pope is just leaving New York as we speak.  We walked from Larry's house to the security area. Larry picked the

I Chilled Here

a good spot he found last night through a security chief. It's a straight

Coffee Shop

head view and we're on a hill so even if people sit in front of us we can still see.It's now almost noon

Homeland Security

and it's really starting to fill up here at Independence Mall. They've a simulcast the mass at Saint Peter and Paul Basilica at this time. I'm with Larry and

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friends sitting on top of the grassy knoll next to a tree.

This Morning

It's nice because the hill is slanted up so we can see even though people are in front of us. We are really close to the Independence Visitor Center. It has food, charging stations,and nice clean bathrooms. It

was really easy to get in The secured area and it is pretty relaxed. It's not

Early in the day

that mayhem that you heard

Nice View

about in the news. They got things really under control anybody's friendly and chillin. I met people

from Mexico and Venezuela while I was here. It's a little bit overcast but it's not supposed to rain till tomorrow.

Fellow Attendies

That is only a 30 or 40% chance of the rain. Bob called just now. He plans to come over and visit

The Gang

tomorrow around 10 

or 11am. It's now very packed. It was pretty easy for us to get in and find a spot. We staked a claim

as you can see from the video. This will be a bunch of speakers before the pope shows up to speak around 4:30 so We are going to

Chilling Waiting for Pope

listen to about 12 speakers before the Pope shows up. It is now 1242 he has just reported to  St. Charles seminary.

Nice Crowed

We just heard from the park ranger telling us about the Park service.. Now the Jumbotron has a commercial

for the Park Service😁. I guess somebody has to pay for it all this, so it looks like we're

Another View

to have a bunch of commercials!! Now we have the same commercial in Spanish.the opening

New Friends

crap is coming to an end and the Pope should be here in about 4:30. 

Apparently all the famous

singers will be at the Parkway.When the sun does come out it's pretty hot!  It's getting to the point now where people just walk right right in the middle of us

Mayor Nutter

sitting here. I could tell the long sitting in getting to

Pope Arriving 

us here. Well, the pope showed up on time and arrive to the door of independence mall.

My Photo of the Pope

He spoke about immigration religious freedom and and the effects of globalization. He spoke in Spanish and it was translated on the job Jumbotron for us in the audience. He was

Nice Jumbotron 

Panoramic View

warmly received by the audience who was in rapt attention. At the end he led the audience into into

2nd Panoramic View

the our father. He let in English and it was really a very moving event right there. His talk was about 20 minutes

Fun is Had!

. It was brief but he got his points across that's for sure. Well when it ended the crowd easily dispersed

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down market Street. Since there was no cars and that kind of problem it was easy for everybody to walk

A Great Time

down market and go to the EL  or walk to their destination or go to the 

parkway. So we went back to Larry's and we had pizza coffee

and hummus dip. It was really good. We watched the eyewitness

Exiting Along Market

news coverage of the pope. The only part that kind of sucked was Jim Gaffigan the comic. He was a

2nd Street

little weird it was just not appropriate I think. So the pope went back to Saints Peter and Paul to relax

Relaxing and Watching Pope

and chill. He then went back to the park Wayne did a big circle to City Hall. So it is now 730 the orchestra

Pope on the Way to the Parkway

is playing in the Popes about to have his seat on the parkway to take in the festivities. They built a beautiful stage that I have not seen yet.

Friday, September 25: Security is Set Up for the Pope

Good morning here from South Philly I just got up and fed the dogs now I'm eating some cereal. I

got a good nights rest and I'm going to chill little bit and take care of the cats. After all that, I plan to return back to Fairmount

Bella

and document the security that envelops Philadelphia. Yes, I am in South Philly about a mile from the

Breakfast

Broad Street line. That will be my link to the inside world of Philadelphia on the first day of the Papal

Facebook Humor

weekend.  The clampdown as I'd like to call it, has begun. The Photo of the cop from National Lampoon's Vacation says it all. I just cracked up when my friend Peter sent me this photo, I of

This is NOT Wally World

course sent it on Facebook. I just finished my pet maintenance. I'm about to walk to the Broad Street line  up  Pattison Avenue

I Begin My Trek

which is about six blocks away.

National Guard at AT&T Station

It's now 10:45 AM. It's been approximately 12 hours since they were planning to close streets

Belevue Welcomes the Pope

 and bus routes. I didn't see a bus taking a left a couple blocks in front of
me. The 4 bus is only running up to Washington Avenue

City Hall Security Checkpoint

I didn't took the Broad Street line and it didn't let me off at Walnut-Locust. I am

Near City Hall

 in downtown Philly checking out the security apparatus. It's and it's pretty impressive. They got TSA, border patrol, Philadelphia police, and Secret Service to name the ones I can think of. Oh yes

Secret Service on the Right

they do have the National Guard is well! I'm going to wander

Security Checkpoint

 around more and then grab a cup of

Philadelphia Police

coffee somewhere.Eventually, I will head down to Fairmount. The pope doesn't arrive until 9:30 AM

The Crazies Come Out

tomorrow and have a mass at 4:30 tomorrow near Independence Mall in old city Philadelphia and then Sunday he makes a visit to a prison and

Security Around City Hall

another mass at The Ben Franklin Parkway.

Walking Along the Parkway

They just got the security apparatus set up today. It's a pretty nice walk down the parkway it's a beautiful day here. Well I explored all the checkpoints on the way home. There are quite a few all over. I am not sure but for whatever reason they have an extra security area across the street from

I b=Bought 2 Shirts from Him

Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul

Bishops Collar on Fairmount. I got pretty

Next to the Free Library

tired I think I'm going to rest for little bit after that walking in the sun. After the big news outside the

Water! We Got it!

pope bubble of Philadelphia. House Speaker John Boehner resigned effective October 30. He is not merely leaving his leadership post he is resigning from Congress itself. This is not such great news because

Ticketed Area

They Mean Business

someone more conservative is going to take over probably congressman party. He's more beholden

Security Fencing

to the party faction. This means it's going to be more likely that there's going to be a government shutdown to ban federal funding to Planned

Fairmount Ave

Parenthood. They shut down the government to defund

24th & Fairmount Near My Place

Obamacare several years ago. As I'm writing this blog there's a helicopter that keeps buzzing around.

It's 3pm and Time to Chill

Apparently, It's the Philadelphia police helicopter. Time for some R&R and a  shower. Well I did take a nap for about an hour and a half and then took a shower. Sharon woke up and we got to chat and catch up.

Clouds at My Back Porch

Also had some for delicious coffee. I realized I had to back up my files from my iPhone to my computer. Fortunately

Backed up My Files

this new operating system puts the phone or in date order and it call from a file main makes sense Apple 101, 102, etc.

after I did that, I called Uber and I found out I had to walk to Poplar Street. When I got the 24th and Poplar, there was a military Humvee blocking

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the road. It was quite a shocking site that's for sure.

The Pope Map

Uber guy took me all the way to 12th and Spring Garden. I had to get off there since the perimeter was

secured atSpring Garden  Street. I then walked the 17 minutes took to get from 12th and Spring Garden to 13th and Sansom. I got to the springboard media

Near the Convention Ctr

with 15 minutes to spare. They took care

A Bus!

of my phone and we had to wait till 830 till the phone was ready to be taken by me. I then ran into Austin

My Friend

and I ended up walking the entire length. I walked from 13th and Sansom to 20th and Pattison it took

At South Philly

about an hour and 20 minutes. Almost 5 miles of walking. I talked to my friend for most of the trip which

Almost There

really helped kill the hours. I got a good tour of South Philly. I then got the Wi-Fi code to the house and

got my programs downloaded. It was quite a day Friday, September 25. Tomorrow is when the pope arrives. Today was just the staging day.

My 4 Mile Walk