Popeadelphia

Pope Francis is coming to Philadelphia this weekend!  After visiting Cuba, Washington DC, and New York, the Pope is coming to Philly to participate in the World Meeting of Families conference all weekend long.  We've been hearing about the visit for months but things really kicked into gear over the summer when closures and the final schedule was announced.  At the end of August, my office announced that due to the crazy train schedules, road closures, and extra security, we'd be closed on the Friday and Monday of the visit. Although the Sooys are not attending any of the festivities or masses this weekend with Pope Francis, it was still neat to watch the city transform in preparation.

On Sunday night, major parking restrictions were in place and that was evident first thing Monday morning when Market Street was clear of parked cars and there was considerably less traffic (also, large clusters of port-a-potties were springing up all over Center City)

On Tuesday, the "Pope Fence" started to go up around the secure perimeter which includes the Ben Franklin Parkway.

I took a quick walk up there during lunch to see what I could see.  The stage and the bleachers were getting set up at Eakins Oval.

The Parkway looks like it does before a major race like the Philly marathon, but with more HD screens and Secret Service.

Greeting Pope Francis, the Philly way:

And a last shot of the Ben Franklin Parkway before I left work on Wednesday:

Philly is excited, and judging by this video, Pope Francis is looking forward to the visit, too.