Philadelphia's Museum Mile: Love Park to the Rocky Steps

Your half-day walking journey begins at the iconic LOVE sculpture. It's the perfect photo op to kick off the tour, as well as a few juicy tidbits such as how LOVE once left town and what artist Robert Indiana almost created instead.

Just steps from the LOVE sculpture, take a seat and enjoy as your guide shares engaging stories—accompanied by visuals on their iPad—about the park’s fascinating history. Both its celebrated highlights and one notorious challenge.

Just steps from the energy of LOVE Park, Cret Park (pronounced 'Cray" Park) offers a relaxing, shaded retreat featuring benches, mature trees, and seasonal plantings. It's an ideal place to share a few facts about the Parkway before making plans for the rest of our half-day adventure.

Completed in 1864, the cathedral was built during a period of intense anti-Catholic sentiment in Philadelphia — including the violent Bible Riots — which influenced its fortress-like design and elevated windows. Today, it's peaceful interior reveals awe-inspiring Roman-Corinthian and Italian Renaissance Revival architecture that includes a strong Baroque influences--a majestic, contemplative space rivaling some of the finest cathedrals in Europe. Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass here in 1979, followed by Pope Francis in 2015 during the World Meeting of Families. The cathedral is open to the public most days.

A once dreary public execution site and burial site,, Logan Circle (formerly Logan Square) today is the Parkway's crown jewel. Shaded by mature trees and including a small botanical garden, the Circle is defined by the picturesque Swann Memorial Fountain. Abraham Lincoln visited here in 1864 as part of a fundraising event for Union soldiers. At some point, you’re likely to stand in the same spot where Lincoln once stood!

A few steps across the street is the oldest natural history museum in the western hemisphere. We will spend a short time in the stunning lobby, and talk outside about some very interesting Academy-related events and characters. Lobby closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

A few steps away is the first and only women’s visual arts college in the country founded in 1848. Here we can browse its 4 galleries and grab a snack or lite luch if you desire. Closed Sundays.

We'll step inside the massive rotunda that houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial for a great photo op beside the largest Benjamin Franklin statue in the world! You'll hear stories about one of the most story-worthy persons who has ever lived. And be prepared for the moment when details of Franklin's amazing life are dramatically revealed!

The Free Library boasts over 1 million borrowers and circulates over 5.5 million items throughout its 54 branches. Browse the building's incredible interior architecture, and visit it's hidden treasure--the Rare Book Department where the infamous raven who inspired Edgar Allen Poe is waiting to greet you. Closed Mondays.

Situated appropriately across from the Free Library is the Shakespeare Memorial, defined by a large oval sitting space and a dramatic 14 foot bronze stature featuring Hamlet, dedicated to the city on Shakespeare’s birthday, April 23, 1929. If our stars be not crossed, there's a good chance we will se what many believe to be the spirit of the bard's famous lover, Romeo.

Here at the Barnes Foundation, we will explore the remarkable life and work of Albert C. Barnes—a man who rose from extreme poverty to co-invent a pharmaceutical breakthrough that earned him a billion dollar fortune, allwing him to devote much of his life to promoting art education--employing as a teaching tool one of the most extraordinary personal art collections the world has ever seen.

Our half-day concludes with a dramatic close at the Rodin Museum, home to the world’s second-largest collection of works by this fascinating, trailblazing artist. Here we’ll explore the life and genius of a man rejected three times by Paris’s top art school—only to rise and challenge a centuries-old artistic system. Today, Auguste Rodin is celebrated as “The Father of Modern Sculpture.” The picturesque Rodin Garden includes several of his most famous sculptures, and is free to browse. It is closed Tuesday through Thursday. However, as with all sites, your guide will display for you multiple supplemental images. Rodin's most famous piece, The Thinker, and one of Philadelphia's top photo opportunities, is out front and always available.

Philadelphia's #1 visitor destination!

Your unforgettable tour ends here at the top of the Rocky Steps. Great photo opportunities along with a video running the last flight up! Visit the Rocky Shop afterwards. Even if you don't buy a souvenir, it's a really cool little Sylvester Stallone "museum."