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We were called morbid specimens müttering curiously in the magic gardens of Philly

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892

29 June 2021 | Philadelphia> Arrived yesterday from NYC. Wint strait to the Mütter museum since we knew it would be closed today. Awesum museum full of morbid curiousities, anatomical models, mummified body parts, pathological specimens, etc. on display. Right before the pandemic they were planning an xhibit on the Spanish Flu (that hit Philly perticularly hard) so that was timely + intresting. No pictures allowed in the main part of it so you'll have to take our word for it (the last we stole from Inurnet).

Philly train station


Mütter museum


from Mütter liebury (from book we picked up at randum)




Walked down to South street after that + went + saw the Magic Gardens, full of all these sculptures made my Isaiah Zagar, father of Zeke who was a childhood friend of ours in Mexico (as were his parents). We went to the Eyes Gallery after to ask if Julia (his mom) or Zeke was around but no luck. Last we saw him was around 2001–02 up in Woodstock + NYC + then we lost touch w/ him after that. That was also around the last time we was in Philly. Had some great Thai food (Kalaya) that tasted great the 1st bite then progressively ate away at our insides. Being that we walked to Penn station earlier in the day, sum 15 miles of walking in insane heat for the day.

magic gardens








This morning walked up Ben Franklin past the museums (unfortunately all closed) past the Rocky steps then back along the Schuylkill river then back thru the city center thru Rittenhouse square + then had shrimp + grits in Terminal Market + walked around there then back down to South Street (still no sign of any Zagars) + the Italian market on 9th street + little Saigon then back up, took the subway part-way back just to experience it. Our hotel has a pool (main reason we picked it)... haven't been in a body of water in 1½ years (tho there were all these party ppl sneaking in off the streets making it feel like an MTV Beach House re-run). Once it cooled down we took the subway to Fishtown + walked around + got sushi + had a drink in front of sum bowling alley then walked back, about 10 miles... all in all we walked ~50 miles in 5 days, in crazy heat.

Fishtown

June 30> Our last night in Philly was night from hell... room next to us was blaring music + having a party, spilling into the hallway. We complained to the front desk but all they did was tell em to turn down the music, there were still all these kids screaming + slamming doors + banging off the walls + when we say "kids" we mean little kids, pre-teen, perhaps toddlers even (at least it sounded like it). Finally after repeatedly complaining + demanding to switch rooms they put us in a swanky room on the top floor (that was out of commission cuz the remote control didn't work) but that room had sum 1 in the adjoining suite that was blaring sports on their TV all night, so we pretty much just laid there w/ pillow over our head all night. Cot an early train out, back to D.C... never thought we'd be saying "home sweet home" about D.C... just nice to be in our house w/ Inurnet that works (din't work in hotel) + that doesn't smell like canned asparagus w/ skanky party ppl all over the place. Seems every 1 + their mother is pent up + out partying after being couped up for a year... who would of thunk Philly would be a touristic destination (downtown hotel was full on a Tuesday).

On the train red We Were Called Specimens by Jason Teal, nice pocket-sized book to read on train tho the font is really small so hard to read on shaky rails + it was all very meta-non-linear + dense so hard to follow... ½ of it went in 1 ear + out the other, but intresting from the ½ we processed. It was published in early 2020 + the intro is from 2019, but there's a line: "Imagine we needed answers, but the question is how to survive wave after wave of pandemic." With this new delta variant we're wondering the same thing... weird to be going around maskless this past week to bars + whatnot... have a feeling it ain't nearly over.

891 <(current)> 893> B-gin w/ earhorror 2 A-count 4 dbook DLs in a sorta dry July
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