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Saint Joseph's University - - What To Do And See

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Whether you're an indoor or an outdoor person, whether you're on vacation with family or just passing through with friends, while travelling through the world, and looking for a good time, or you're in town with business, for a couple of days, there is always something fun to do in Philly, no matter what you're idea of a good time is!

Among Philly's most popular attractions, there are:

National Museum of American Jewish History, which was founded during the wave of museum-building in Philadelphia surrounding the 1976 Bicentennial celebration, featuring an impressive collection of more than 10,000 artifacts, some dating back more than 300 years.

Philadelphia Insectarium, featuring two floors of live and mounted insects from around the world. Kids love shrieking at the Madagascar hissing cockroaches, squealing at the Mexican tarantulas, and crawling through the bungee-cord spider web. Visitors will also find here glow-in-the-dark scorpions, facinating exotic butterflies and many other thriving creatures from the intriguing world of insects.

The Academy of Natural Sciences, a family-friendly museum that features showcases which capture the eye and arouses curiosity, among the museum's highlights being the fully constructed Giganotosaurus, one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs, a tyrannosaurus rex skull, multitudes of butterflies from Kenya, Costa Rica and Malaysia, large game animals acquired in the 1920s and 1930s, mounted in 3-D painted dioramas that replicate their natural habitats, and much, much more.

The Philadelphia Zoo, one of the best laid-out and most animal-packed zoos in the country, among a charming 42-acre Victorian garden with tree-lined walks, formal shrubbery, ornate iron cages and animal sculptures. In addition to its animals, the zoo is known for its historic architecture, which includes the country home of William Penn’s grandson, its botanical collections of over 500 plant species, its groundbreaking research and its fine veterinary facilities.

Annual Events

The Cherry Blossom Festival of Greater Philadelphia, which takes place in March, is perhaps, one of Philadelphia's most photogenic and expected annual events.

The Festival continues a legacy established in 1926 when the Japanese government donated cherry trees to Philadelphia in honor of the Sesquicentennial of American Independence. Cherry blossoms have deep significance in Japanese culture and are a traditional motif in art, literature and cuisine.

One of the festival's highlights, considered being a ''not to miss'', is the amateur sushi contest, when contestants get a chance to test their sushi-making skills in a judged competition. Most attractions are free and offer something for every age to enjoy!