CHOO onthis

Bicycle in front of Boyz II Men’s alma mater

Boyz II Men was my favorite music growing up. I bought all their albums and the first thing I did once I bought them was sit down, flip through the CD booklets and start memorizing the order of the songs, and the lyrics. In the 4th grade, I wrote a young author book about a rooster or some other poultry and in the “About the Author” section, I wrote that my favorite music group is Boyz II Men and it is my dream to one day meet them (I still haven’t done this so can someone arrange this please?). I used to have this Boyz II Men VHS, and they took viewers around to all their hang out spots in Philly. I decided that one day, when I was old enough, I’d visit all their hang out spots, too. Needless to say, visiting Philly this past weekend meant more to me than just checking off an East Coast state to visit, it meant making my childhood dreams come true! Now, I finally understand what “while cooling on South street” means and I had all the Philly steaks I could eat.

Thanks to my bud Kurt’s careful planning, we hit up many of the Philly tourist spots in a day trip. I had a few reservations about Philly going in - heard some stories about mean/racist locals and I can’t have that. Luckily, we experienced nothing of the sort. A stranger asked if we were lost and needed help, bartenders were cordial, and servers cracked jokes. A few other notes about Philly:

• In comparison to NYC Philly is CLEAN. 
• Everything you need to see is on a few streets: Chestnut, Broad, South, and 30th
• The UPenn campus is unimpressive

Random storm trooper-esque guy found on a bridge

I ran the entire set of Rocky steps. In 85 degree weather, and considering my sensitivity to heat… terrible idea.

Found a random ping pong table at a park on the way to brunch

Sabrina’s Cafe hangs Botero and makes a french toast I actually like to eat. Legit.

Loved the Reading Terminal Market and wish I had enough room to eat a second lunch…

Standard.

Where the magic happened aka where Boyz II Men formed - Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts. Yes, this was a “tourist spot” for me.

Magic Garden was the most amazing fantasy getaway. It displays mosaicist, Isaiah Zagar’s work, and is the largest public mosaic installation. This picture does the installation absolutely zero justice. We got lost here for a good few hours. I even took a cat nap.

Of course, we had to eat Philly Cheesesteaks - this one from Jim’s.