CrysGarris*

This weekend, I had the pleasure of touring the city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia.

View from the Philadelphia Museum of Art

I was able to sightsee and visit some of their cultural institutions and I must say, I was quite impressed with how beautiful the city is.

I've visited before, but as a child visiting family. I never realized there was so much art. There are literally murals everywhere.

Since I was only visiting for the weekend, I chose which institutions I wanted to visit in advance and checked out their current exhibits to see which I loved best.

I was with family so luckily, I was able to drive everywhere. However, they have a cool bus called Plash that I originally planned to use. It operates daily during summer, running every 15 minutes and it hits more than 20 stops that are close to the city's popular attractions.

Driving through Chinatown

The weather was absolutely gorgeous so my first stop was Philadelphia's Magic Gardens, an art environment created by Isaiah Zagar.

More of the Magic Gardens HERE

It was absolutely gorgeous! I got pretty hot after walking through while the sun was blazing so I walked down the street to get ice cream.

Big Gay Ice Cream Shop

On the way to the ice cream shop, I passed this pretty interesting piece "The Atlas of Tomorrow". You spin the wheel and read the corresponding story on the wall for a philsophical lesson.

Next, I headed further down South Street for some shopping. As I mentioned before, there are murals all over. This particular one is on the firehouse and is a part of the Mural Mile, the world’s largest outdoor art gallery.

Engine Company No. 11

I realized it would be raining the next day and I hadn't seen everything I wanted to outdoors so I headed back towards the Downtown area to do more sightseeing.

Liberty Bell Center/ George Washington's House

I even got a picture with Rocky!

And yes, I did run up the stairs. (Only to realize, I'd have to do it again to visit the Museum of Art the next day.)

I was exhausted after that, so I stopped touring for the day.

Boathouse Row

The next day the weather called for rain, so I made it my museum day. My first stop was the African American Museum.

More from the African American Museum HERE

This ended up being one of my favorite places and is truly a must visit. It was interactive, interesting and extremely informative.

Next, I went to the Academy Of Natural Sciences of Drexel University because they have moving dinosaurs, and who wouldn't want to see that?

I was pleasantly surprised to see they also had an area for kids to learn about and dig for fossils as well as a butterfly exhibit.

Next it was time to tackle three of the buildings of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

First, I went to the Rodin Museum. There they house one of the largest collections of sculptor Auguste Rodin's works.

Next up, the Ruth and Raymond Perelman Building. This building is home to the museums rotating exhibitions, photographs, amazing textile collection and more.

Right now they're showing an exhibit, "Creative Africa" that I adore. It displays various works, from fashion to architecture, by artists throughout Africa

More from "Creative Africa" HERE

And last but not least, I made my way back to the "Rocky" steps, to head to the main building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

I would have loved to see the Sculpture Garden but it was pouring by then so I'll save that for next time.

This was a great trip and I'll definitely be back to Philly soon to complete my list, including a trip to Drexel Park to see the breathtaking views and to try the Dutch food at Reading Market.

Til Next Trip,

Crys.