Philadelphia Freedom - Part One

It seems I timed my hiatus from blogging rather well - although it was completely unintentional.  I would not have been able to post my weekly Show & Tell on Friday anyway.  And where was I on Friday?  I was in Philadelphia on a homeschool field trip!  Yes, I got up at 4am, got dressed and packed some snacks before piling into the car at 4:30am with the two older boys.  Sunrise was at 5:25 or so, by my reckoning.  A little earlier than we usually roll out of bed!  Our charter bus pulled out somewhere around 5:20 and we were on our way. 

The main purpose of the trip was the morning spent at  The Franklin Institute where we had tickets to see Tutankhamun - The Golden Age of the Pharoahs.  Here are the steps leading up to the Franklin Institute's main entrance - it looked so impressive, but was hard to get a picture because I really didn't feel comfortable standing in the middle of the road.  LOL



Cool, right?  We arrived at about 8:30am and our entrance time to the exhibit wasn't until 9, so we looked around the lobby a little.





Then, off to the exhibit.  Of course, we weren't allowed to take photos while in the exhibit, but it was amazing.  This link will take you to the media gallery of the museum's website, which shows just three of the incredible objects in the exhibit. (Update: that link no longer works, but you can see pictures of some of the artifacts here: Exhibition of artifacts from the tomb of Tutankhamen)  I can say with complete confidence that I have never seen so much gold before in my life.  Not even half that much.  The riches and craftsmanship of the objects found in the pharoah's tomb is absolutely breathtaking.  What stood out to me was that the ancient Egyptians basically spent most of their lives planning their funerals and for the afterlife that they believed in.  They were sadly mistaken about what things would be needed for their eternity and how eternity would be spent, but no one could say that they did not prepare adequately!  I wondered how many people of our day and age give even a fraction of that amount of energy thinking ahead to what eternity will hold, and preparing for it.  How much of my time and treasure am I actively investing in eternity, and how much do I thoughtlessly squander on temporary things?  Things that won't last past next week.  Things that won't really satisfy.  In my devotional time the following day I read Isaiah 30-31, which mentions the folly of trusting in horses and chariots like the Egyptians.  Something to think about.

On a lighter note, after the Egypt exhibit, we spent a little time looking at some of the other areas of the museum.  We looked briefly in Sir Isaac's Loft which is a fun physics lab.  Among other things, the boys had a go at lifting their own weight:



The Sports Challenge exhibit was insanely crowded, so we didn't spend much time there, even though that would probably have interested Harrison most.  We stopped at several other exhibits as well, including The Giant Heart where Harrison had some fun getting an EKG.



Our time at the Franklin Institute ended after viewing the IMAX film "Mysteries of Egypt"  We had to sit pretty low in the theatre and it just wasn't as comfortable.  Take note:  when attending an IMAX show, try to sit in the middle or above.  LOL

Since all but one family on the trip intended to go to the historic city area of Philadelphia, our bus driver was kind enough to pick us up after the movie and deliver us to the National Consitution Center.  I have more pictures of that part of the trip, but my blog/computer time has run out, so I'll have to make this a two-part entry.

 Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to Homeschool Coffee Break by Email!

©2006-2015 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author.http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/