Franklin Institute and City Hall

The downtown area if Philly is a much more attractive area of the city. The parks and fountains that dot the landscape are very appealing to the eye of a boy from Southern Colorado who’s water experiences include a Wet Banana and an irrigation ditch. Anyway, they couldn’t have chosen a nicer place to put Franklin’s memorial building. Even the subway stations in that area are better. Some guy at the 40th Street Station tried to pick up my wife and roomate and the fact that they were about three times the size of me made me a little nervous.

One thing that is disappointing about places such as the Franklin Institute is that they have so many priceless pieces of history, but very few ever get to see them. I know these pieces need to be preserved, but couldn’t we do this and display them at the same time. There must be a way. The items that we saw today had tremendous historical value and nobody knows that they are there. I know that funds also limit this, but it is a shame that it has to be that way.

 On the way back we went to the City Hall. This is a beautiful building and it is the largest municipal builing in the country, even larger than the U.S. Capitol. It was interesting to see that there were two statues of Civil War generals on the north side of the building. You don’t expect to see things like that in a city that is famous for  the Revolutionary time period. There are so many field trip opportunities in this city. As annoying as it can be to have all of these students running around at these sites we go to, at least they are getting out to go see them.

 

I am looking forward to tomorrows visit to Washington’s Crossing and Monmouth.