i heart Philly

Well... it doesn't seem like much of an item to have on one's bucket list, but today i finally did the big bus philly tour. i've done similar bus tours in NYC & DC, and i've really enjoyed them... learning little tidbits about the cities that you wouldn't find in a pamphlet. so everytime i see one of the big buses driving in our neighborhood, i drive alongside it and try to listen in on the tour. I'll share some of the fun facts that i learned today (well, some i knew :o).

Anyone that's been to Philly knows that it's pretty easy to navigate since it's a grid. The streets running East-West were named from the trees found in the area. South Street used to be Cedar, Sassafras Street later became Race Street since people used to race their horses down it. The streets running North-South, on the other hand, are in numerical order. But instead of 1st street, you'll find Front Street. And that's because William Penn, the founder of the city and a religious man, felt that nothing was 1st
before God, hence no 1st street. pretty cool :o)

Another cool story that non-Philadelphians might not know is that of the curse of Billy Penn. See... for years William Penn's statue (which sits atop City Hall) was the tallest point in the city. Once construction of buildings exceeded his height, the curse began. So from March of 1987 with One Liberty Place, all of the local Philadelphia sports teams... Eagles, 76ers, Flyers, & Phillies... would fail to win their respective championships. In 2007, with the completion of the Comcast Center (now the largest building in Philly), a mini statuette of William Penn was afixed to the final beam, thus, breaking the curse. The Phillies won the World Series in 2008.

Aside from the Liberty Bell, the Rocky Balboa statue is the second most popular Philadelphia attraction. We live by the Art Museum, so we have witnessed many people running up the steps like Rocky does in the movie. Just found out today though that he really didn't run up all 72 steps, and that his stunt double did most of them. What a wimp :o)

Well... there's a lot to see here in Philly... and, of course, you can see most of the sites in a miniature scale version at Franklin Square and play mini golf at the same time. bonus!

Well... lots of love to Philly...
After all, it is "the city of brotherly love"... little lisa lollipop

Franklin Square