Eerie Calm Before The Papal Storm In Center City
By Dan Wing
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - With security fences up as far as the eye can see and very few vehicles on normally busy streets, Center City Philadelphia is looking more and more like a ghost town.
A strangely quiet calm could be felt throughout the city Friday, with bike riders, joggers and pedestrians having free reign over the typically crowded roads.
It's an unusual sight for many, like Linda from Lansdale.
"It's very quiet," she tells KYW Newsradio. "I've never walked around Philly like I can now. I feel perfectly safe, because there's National Guard and policemen at every corner."
Brian says he prepared for the weekend like he would a snow day, but he won't be hanging out inside much:
"Got all my supplies and I'm ready to hunker down, but I'm not doing that. There's just too much excitement that, you know, I want to come out and see what's going on."
He adds that he's pretty excited for the Papal party to get started:
"Absolutely. I've been looking forward to it since they announced it, and ready to welcome the Pope and all his pilgrims."
Many people were detoured a bit from their normal routes into work, but most who spoke with KYW Newsradio said the lack of cars on the roads made their commute somewhat enjoyable.