June 21, 2012
Roundup: Beat The Heat With Our Top Picks For Attractions In Philadelphia With Frosty Air Conditioning

As temperatures reach 100 degrees today, check out our guide to city attractions that boast refreshingly cold A.C. to help you fend off a fainting spell. (Photo credits, clockwise from top left: Photograph © 2012 The Barnes Foundation, W. Klein courtesy Academy of Natural Sciences, R. Kennedy for GPTMC, courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art)
Getting dizzily dehydrated from the heat today already? The temperature is nearly at 100 degrees.
As always, we’ve got your back; we’ve assembled a handy guide to attractions with cold A.C., below, that you can reference throughout the summer when you need to cool off. As in, today.
• Adventure Aquarium: Where better to cool off than at Camden’s riverfront aquarium? Adventure Aquarium is a true waterfront treasure, where you can immerse yourself in nearly 200,000 square feet of air-conditioned space, which houses more than two million gallons of water and 6,500 animals.
• Philadelphia Museum of Art: Philadelphia’s premier art museum and one of the world’s finest offers a great refuge from the blasting heat outside, with the cool marble and even cooler libations like the Cherry Lime Fizz at Stephen Starr’s Granite Hill.
• The Barnes Foundation: Clean white informs the interior color palette of the newly opened Barnes Foundation on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, making for a cool hot-day environment. The beautiful, refreshing garden just outside is a great place to cool off, too; just be sure to fight the urge to jump into the reflecting pool.
• Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts: PAFA has two exhibitions that are perfect for scorching summer weather: Dive Deep: Eric Fischl and the Process of Painting, opening June 29; and Bill Viola: Ocean Without a Shore, on view right now. Head indoors to get an art fix while you let your body temperature lower.
• Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum: No need to fear your car seat’s hot leather on the back of your legs because the AC in the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum is cranked up. Check out cars that are too hot to handle in the “American Muscle” car show gearing up now and until July 15. Wish you knew even more? Check out what Top Chef Kevin Sbraga wishes you knew about the Simeone in our Philly 101 video.
• Please Touch Museum: Take a journey with the kids down the river in the Please Touch Museum’s River Adventures exhibit: race sail boats in water currents and play with bubbles sans slathering the kids in sunscreen. Tip: for a really cool treat, stop by the just-opened Rita’s in the Please Taste Café.
• The Free Library: As temperatures continue to tap out around triple digits, a number of Free Library of Philadelphia neighborhood locations will serve as official cooling centers. Swim through the pools of books and kick back in the air-conditioned space, keeping the dreaded farmer’s tan “at bay.”
• Penn Museum: Take a trip to the Penn Museum to go deep within the Earth where the sun doesn’t shine in the MAYA.2012 summer exhibition featuring remarkable artifacts recently excavated, helping to tell the story of the legendary Mayan calendar.
• Ritz Movie Theaters: Catching a summer movie at any of Philadelphia’s beloved three Ritz Movie Theaters is a surefire way to lower your body temperature. The ticket prices are no more than $9.
• National Constitution Center: We bet this summer is going to be much hotter than the Summer of ’69, but you can catch shade at the Bruce Springsteen exhibit at the National Constitution Center. And be sure to make a pit stop at the shady Crosswalk Cafe for some icy cold hydration.
• Academy of Natural Sciences: There’s a multitude of interesting and informative discoveries to be made at this natural history museum, one of the world’s foremost. The uplifting Butterflies! exhibit, featuring dozens of butterflies from around the world encased in 1,200 square feet of exquisite gardens, is a great way to beat the heat.
• Franklin Institute: This shore trip won’t leave sand in between your toes, or even take you outside. Take a historical trip to the shore… of the Dead Sea to see this summer’s blockbuster exhibition: Dead Sea Scrolls. The exhibit’s dark cave-like setting will give you the chills.












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Wait a minute…..does whoever wrote this think that “Summer of ’69″ is a Springsteen song? Wow. It’s Bryan Adams. No wonder this site never has any music recommendations.