Museum Week

Independence Day is apparently not enough in this lovely city. Instead, we have had Independence Week. A number of museums contributed to the festivities by waiving their admission price for a day.

On Monday, I foolishly fell for the lure of free admission and went to check out the Franklin Institute. I'm glad I went but apparently every parent in Philadelphia with two or more children had also heard that there was free entry. It was packed with too many people, and the majority were children. Still, I got to say hello to Ben:

Thursday's experience was much better. Ben was once again sighted. He's everywhere!

I snapped a picture of the Mint:

and then made my way to the Constitution Center. The crowds were a little less chaotic and a little more mature. There was a wonderful exhibit of photographs of the Kennedy family, taken during JFK's campaign and presidency. There was also a great exhibit on the Bill of Rights and a beautiful display of the various state flags. 

I also inadvertently walked by Ben's grave and the Arch Street Friends Meeting House.

William Penn deeded the land to the Society of Friends for their use in 1701, originally to be used for burials. The Meeting House was built later and is still in use by the Quakers.

Bangladesh at the British Museum

Saturday I gave a tour at the Museum and to my surprise, there was a special event taking place!  In celebration of 40 years of independence for Bangladesh, the Museum hosted a Family day.  They had traditional crafts for the kids, special exhibits, and even traditional dancing and singing.  

I'm also including a short video of the dancing and singing, but just a note, if you get my posts via email, you won't be able to see the video, I think you will need to visit my website to actually view it.  The picture quality is awful (I did it on my phone after all!) but the sound is pretty good.  You can hear the bangles around the dancer's angles and the voice of the singer.  It will give you a little 17 second taste of Bangladesh!

Egyptology!

The tour on Wednesday had a great God-organized series of events.  I'm so excited!

Val and I did the tour together, meaning we alternated who spoke.  Early on in the tour, a woman joined us.  We often have strangers hear the tour and just join in.  Often they just assume we work for the museum.  

By about the fifth stop on the tour, after I shared about Tiglath Pilesar III, she came over to me and commented on the tour.  "I feel like I hit the jackpot!  I'm an Egyptologist and I just decided to wander through the museum after my interview here, and now you are telling me about the Assyrians and the Babylonians."  

Pause.  Rewind.  "Wait, you're an Egyptologist?  That's incredible!"  Cue Hope getting very excited.  In response to a question, she told me she is Catholic.  She seemed a bit hesitant to say so, but she had also mentioned that she's encountered a lot of academic scepticism in regards to the Bible.  

We started chatting in between artifacts.  It turns out she just had an interview for a position at the British Museum! When we got to our detour to the Rosetta Stone, I asked her to explain it the group.  Honestly, I just couldn't bear to stumble through my explanation of hieroglyphs with an Egyptologist listening!  

Before we went to the second level of the Museum, J had to leave us.  She and I chatted a bit to say goodbye and exchanged numbers.  She's offered to share some information with me in the future!  When I asked where she lives, J told me.  Would you believe she lives less than two miles from my house?  Wow.  As she saved my number, she commented, "God works in mysterious ways, indeed."  Indeed, my friend.  I'm so excited to get together sometime and talk about Egyptology!  I'll let you know what I learn...