While I was in New York City earlier this month (for New York Comic Con), I decided to take a spontaneous day trip to Philadelphia (because as some of you may already know, I LOVE spontaneous trips!) While I’ve been to Philly (quite a few times) before, I’ve never really “seen” the city (if that makes any sense.) Since I was only going to be in the city for about six hours and didn’t have a lot of time to do in-depth exploring or visit any museums, I decided to do the next best thing and make a trip to Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens.

I’d learned about Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, which is a non-profit organization, folk art environment, and gallery space, a little under three years ago and had been itching to visit! To date, it’s the largest work created by mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar (how cool is that?).

Since I’m such a HUGE art lover (if you couldn’t already tell by my weekly visits to the Art Institute of Chicago or by all the art exhibits I’ve posted about in the past), I knew that visiting Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens was my top priority during my quick trip to Philly.

Before you get to the gorgeous mosaic murals outside, there’s an awesome indoor gallery full of unique paintings and installations (I could seriously spend hours looking at and analyzing artwork!)

I loved finding little hidden words, animals and messages throughout the structures (whenever I see “eat” I always think of Skins!) 

I think my favorite thing about Magic Gardens was this adorable hidden Mickey (it wasn’t really hidden, you could see it from a mile away but you get my drift) I found as I was leaving (speaking of Mickey, I’m having a BLAST at Disneyland right now. Make sure to follow along on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for more Disneyland fun and stay tuned Friday for the first of three Halloween related Disneyland posts!)

Just look at that mosaic pathway, it’s absolutely breathtaking! While it is gorgeous, it is also important to remember that it is artwork and should be respected (in fact, you aren’t allowed to touch anything no matter how tempting it may seem!)

The glass bottles protruding from the walls reminded me of this awesome bottle art installation the Museum of Contemporary Art had two years ago!

I’m so glad I was finally able to visit Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens in person. It was definitely worth the day trip. If you’re ever in the Philly area, I HIGHLY recommend giving it a visit!