Ben who?

Living in Philadelphia you quickly realize that the city has an obvious obsession with one B. Franklin. Rightfully so I guess. He had his hand in every pot in the young Philadelphia; he started the first fire department, the first american loaning library, as well as the first academy of higher education in America, which ultimately turned into the University of Pennsylvania. All this with a bad case of gout. Because of all these accolades there are hundreds of statues or monuments to him around town (not to mention all the businesses named things like: Franklin Liquor, Ben Franklin Pretzel, etc). On my way home from work the other day Rachel and I took photos of all the Ben Franklin statues, which totalled 4 if you count a mural on the side of a building. Not bad for a 25 minute walk.

Here is the mural of ole benny, although it is pretty odd mural, I mean whats cheaper than a outdoor painting of a statue?

This one is right in the middle of campus and features the old, wise Ben, that could be seen canoodling with wealthy french ladies about the court.

This is obviously my favorite one. He's a great listener.

Ben... Did you take my hat?

New York

We recently spent a weekend in New York City. We had been ashamed that we hadn't been there yet, because it's only 90 miles and a two-hour train ride away from Philly. It was easy to get there and back via the New Jersey transit system. Now we can proudly say we've experience the splendor and chaos of New York. We spent most of Saturday at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), where we were dazzled and puzzled by all that modern art has to offer. They had an especially cool furniture exhibit; and we loved the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibit, which showed how design allows us to absorb the amazing amount of information available to us in the "information age." Below is a video of the flight patterns in the United States.




Next, we went to the Top of the Rock viewing deck at the 70th floor of Rockefeller Center. Here are the northern (Central Park) and southern (Empire State Building and downtown Manhattan) views.


















After enjoying a lovely evening at an Italian restaurant in the East Village, we saw the sights in downtown Manhattan on Sunday: Wall Street, Battery Park, the World Trade Center site, New York Stock Exchange, and Trinity Church, a historic Episcopal church that was built in 1846. Here is the view from Battery Park, where you can see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island -- next time we'll visit in the summer and take the ferry.

We look forward to spending more weekends in the big city of New York. It is staggering in scale; but the history and museums alone make it worth the visit. A perfect weekend trip for anyone who visits us in Philly! (Sorry, couldn't resist the plug.)