Yesterday, the hall just inside the East Entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art was abuzz with security and museum employees readying for the opening of the Salvador Dali exhibit.
But yesterday was such a nice day, I didn't want to be inside.
Instead I left the museum and witnessed one of the most recognizable sporting venues in the city, not on Pattison Avenue, but just a few feet in front of me.
The Rocky Steps.
Made famous by the Oscar-winning movie in which Sylvester Stallone's character trains for his upcoming fight by running up the stairs at daybreak, the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art were bustling on the nicest day of the year to this point.
And they weren't just runners out getting some exercise or having a good time.
The base of the 98 steps was the bicyclists' territory, while the large plaza between the bottom 72 steps and the 26 leading up to the museum were the domain of the skateboarders.
With runners huffing and puffing in between, the steps were as active as any gym -- and for a good reason.
Yesterday's high temperature in Philadelphia was an unseasonably warm 57 degrees, good enough for Drexel freshman Dan Richardson, who came to the museum to run 10 full laps up and down the stairs.
"In the fall I did it every day," Richardson said. "Now since the weather's been good today, I came down."
Richardson's afternoon workout hardly makes him unusual, according to Erin Ingraffia, who works in Visitor Services at the museum.
"We get the most people up and down the stairs in the morning and then again in the late afternoon," she said.
"Especially with Dali as well, a lot of people have been coming up the main steps."
While Richardson only uses the steps for exercise, there are others who choose the spot at the end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for much more.
"I like being outside," Drexel sophomore Tyler Tomalavage said. "Nice scenery, fresh air."
Indeed the scenery is quite nice -- for those fans of the urban landscape.
The steps face southeast, so the view from the top peers down the long stretch of the Parkway, straight on to City Hall, which dominates the vista.
And it is the view from the Museum of Art -- a gargantuan dolomite structure built for the Centennial Exposition of 1876 -- that makes the famous steps a hot spot for runners and loungers alike.
And then there are those Rocky impersonators.
After winding his way from South Philadelphia to the museum, Rocky, in a moment equally as corny as it is triumphant, jumps up and down with fists in the air.
Now it seems that every tourist in Philadelphia who is out for a jog along the Parkway has to try it for himself.
"When I go up the stairs, there's almost always one person out there doing that," Ingraffia said. "But it depends on the day and how many tourists are in town."
Yesterday, I saw none, but come back on the Fourth of July, and the steps outside one of the nation's greatest collections of art may turn into a regular Italian Stallion convention.
Zachary Levine is a sophomore mathematics major from Delmar, N.Y., and is Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is zlevine@sas.upenn.edu. Levine on the Scene appears periodically as a recap of off-campus sports in Philadelphia.
