Painting the town red

The sun was shining today on the Phillies and the fans.

Some scenes from today's Phillies parade from our position at Broad and Lombard streets. (Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are in the top pix.)

Crazy fun, but not out-of-control. Spirits were high - and yep, people around us were downing them too - but it wasn't a drunken madhouse. Just very, very happy people wearing more red than Nancy Reagan. Some fans even climbed trees for a better viewing position, until cops asked them to get down.

We started our day out at the Wilmington train station - bad move. For me and about 500 other people. We abandoned that ship real soon when it looked like the trains were going to be running very late. (Some 20somethings standing on the platform were carrying 12-packs of beer, cracking open cans and pouring the beer into coffee cups. Kids, you weren't fooling anyone. Oh yeah, I remember when I was young and dumb and didn't worry about having to go to the bathroom after drinking so much beer at 9 a.m. Those were the days. Not.)

Surprisingly, the traffic on I-95 was very light and we got into Center City in less than 30 minutes. Easy parking too! (On the street!) We stood by the Public Health building, which was handing out free hand-cleanser. That was kind of funny.

Before the parade began, some attention seekers were walking down Broad Street. Like the guy dressed as Elvis. And another guy who had a hat that looked like the World Series trophy. And the guy on stilts. And then some kid began riding his bike and popped a wheelie. The crowd went bananas - and then booed him when he nearly fell off said bike. I love Philadelphia.

My favorite part of the parade was seeing Ryan Howard (love him!) and Jamie Moyer. The players looked so psyched. We got Moyer and Pedro Feliz's attention. When Harry Kalas and Wheels went by, the crowd began chanting "Harry, Harry, Harry." Confetti was everywhere and I stuffed some into my pocket for a keepsake.

Afterward, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch and sparkling wine at Parc on Rittenhouse. (On the walk over to the restaurant, a group of guys who lived in a house near Broad Street were charging people $5 to use their bathroom - and people were paying them. Now, that's a way to make some easy cash.)

We got a sidewalk table at Parc and crocks of French onion soup - very cheesy with a full-flavored, deep bodied broth - the charcuterie plate (I could eat the chicken liver mousse every day) and a few other noshes. The place was packed and it seemed like every person walking by was wearing a Phillies hat, T-shirt, sweatshirt or jacket.

Crazy, wonderful day.