Speaking from Center City Philadelphia:

[PCIntern]

This has been a remarkable time here...it's easiest if I sum it up point by point.

1. The tenor of the place, of the visitors and the remaining residents has been fantastic: warm, friendly, exciting. I've been in town - moved in with my kid for five days to be able to get to my dental practice - and the spirit is great.

2. Which leads me to my second point: they scared everyone who lived here into leaving town because of the pending hordes of millions of people descending upon the City. People who remained stocked up on food, medications, emergency supplies, etc. all for absolutely no reason. Many stores closed...again for absolutely no reason. I'm talking about stores outside the red zone as they call it...yes we have a Red Zone and a Black Zone.

3. We have barricades all over the place: concrete barricades placed so there is no chance of vehicular disruption. This of course makes sense. We have the National Guard stationed at every corner for a huge perimeter. We have huge security checkpoints manned by nundreds of Federal Police and TSA. We have shut down the major artery, the Schuylkill Expressway all the way from the Northeast to the airport. We have literally hundreds and hundreds of emergency vehicles moving at all hours of the day and night: convoys of vehicles with flashing lights moving at very high speed on the otherwise deserted roads. The area around where the Pope is staying is like an armed fortress - it is a real show of strength from the Federal Government the likes of which I have never witnessed. There must be two thousand vehicles here with Virginia, D.C., and Maryland plates, and these people are not fooling around.

4. People are enjoying themselves. We went out last night to a very popular restaurant and bar and were among the few people in the place which normally would be overflowing. We walked around the streets and it was a real party atmosphere but sober and controlled. Tell you one thing: it was certainly a safe night to be out.

5. Hopefully Sunday will continue to be a safe and exciting event for the participants.

[monmouth4]

1. Believe it or not I really was thinking of you and your family with the Pope's visit to the

Philly area. Sort of figured you guys would head to Ventnor or somewhere else down the shore. Glad the atmosphere is good and you are enjoying it...

[enough]

2. That's a really interesting picture you're providing, PCIntern.

It's a strange juxtaposition of "like an armed fortress - it is a real show of strength from the Federal Government the likes of which I have never witnessed," and "People are enjoying themselves," "a real party atmosphere but sober and controlled."

Maybe there's something about living within a totally controlled locked-down environment that people actually like?

Thanks for the vivid report.

[PCIntern]

3. I think that is so

Everyone I've talked to "loved" the police and the militia because they felt "safe and secure".