The King Tut exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philly was amazing. Trinity has loved Egyptology since she was five, so when she learned that King Tut was coming to the United States she was dieing to go from the beginning. But we waited until it hit the last city on it's stop here. People who went in Los Angeles, the first stop, said it was a mad house. But there was almost no crowd to speak of, and the exhibit was organized so that you had cards at the top of the glass cases and at the bottom so if you had a moment when people did block your view you could still read what was in the case while waiting for your turn to see. You learn a lot about King Tut's family and ancestry, and what led up to him being king in the first third of the exhibit. The artifacts from his grave were as wonderful now as they were when Carter first opened the tomb in 1922. He was the first to see into the tomb, and others impatiently asked if he saw anything. His answer, "Yes, wonderful things." They are still now and will be for all time wonderful things.

We highly recommend you go before the exhibit leaves in September. The last time any of the Tut treasures toured this country was about thirty years ago. Don't wait.

We also saw the Liberty Bell. Which according to the plaques had a hairline crack that ruined the tone of the bell. In trying to fix that small crack they made a much larger one. They did a second attempt to fix it and made an even bigger crack. There's a lesson in there, I think. Maybe that a small imperfection isn't such a big deal, and you should leave well enough alone. The bell is an amazing symbol, but it seems a poor thing with it's huge crack and bolts holding the edges so the crack does not spread. On one hand I was standing next to history. One the other hand I felt like I should have petted the bell and told it to get better. Though, you can't touch the bell, it's roped off, out of reach. But you get the idea.

Then we did Independence Hall. I kept trying to call it Constitution Hall which is incorrect. But it was the place where our country was born on paper. They have the rooms set up so that there are quills and books, and paper scattered around the tables. The chairs are in some disarray. It all gives the illusion that the founding fathers are just off to lunch and will be back shortly to finish up. I thought it was very well done. Admittedly, I'm a history buff, and colonial history is a personal favorite, but we all got a kick out of walking on the stairs where we knew that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and so many others had walked. I wanted to touch every piece of wood, as if I could feel the hands of all those people who had passed before us. We're lucky, Trin loves history as much as we do, so we all had a very good time. We could not resist singing a chorus from the musical 1776 on the stairs. The temptation was entirely too overwhelming. We sang it softly.