12/31/2009
After our cholesterol injections, we walked over to Franklin Court, the former residence of Ben Franklin. His original home and print shop are long gone, but they are represented by a life-sized steel outline. There are also concrete circles on the ground with inscriptions like “Location of Ben Franklin’s privy.” Great. I needed to know that.
A door in one of the buildings leads to a winding ramp that goes several yards underground to the appropriately-named “Benjamin Franklin Underground Museum.” The National Park Service guy on duty was pretty funny. He apologized for how terrible the exhibits were that we were about to see. “They are literally falling apart,” he confessed, with a sigh. He told us that they will be shutting down imminently and moved to another location. So another historic landmark bites the dust.
When we reemerged from the Underground Museum we entered a recreation of Franklin’s print shop. Another National Park Service guy was there who gave us a demonstration on how the old printing presses worked. He even used a form of linen paper – similar to the paper used in Franklin’s lifetime. For $1 you can buy samples from the press. I bought a copy of the Declaration of Independence, which I plan to hang in my classroom. I will brag to my students about how it was printed on an 18th-century printing press on 18th-century paper. They won’t care, but I will.
After Franklin Court we paid our $15 parking fee and tried to head over to Macy’s department store. Why, you may ask? Every once in awhile, at the end of one of her entries Patricia Schultz will put an extra paragraph mentioning something unrelated to the main entry, but worth checking out all the same. In this case, she mentions a holiday display in Macy’s under the Mummers Parade entry, so we decided to check it out. We made it to Macy’s, assuming the store would have its own parking. No such luck. The parking lots around it were demanding as high as $27 for the privilege. No thanks! The trip out to Macy’s wasn’t a total loss, however. On the way we passed by the Pennsylvania Convention Center and saw a parking deck close by that only charges $7 all day if you arrive before 10 o’clock. We made a note of it in the GPS for the next day.
With nothing else to do in Philadelphia (not without paying another outrageous parking fee) we headed to the hotel and finally checked in. We were very pleased. The room was nice, the bed was comfortable. Everything was great. We turned on the television. A “Cops” marathon was on. Don’t ask me how, but four hours later we were still watching it. Yes. “Cops.” The signing of the Declaration of Independence in the morning. Watching “Cops” all night. Isn’t that the American dream?
I won’t even mention the Three Stooges marathon that was on afterwards.
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