Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Franklin Institute.

On our second day in Philadelphia, we spent the morning in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the afternoon in the Franklin Institute.  Joe was able to find online deals for tickets 50% off at each of these places which made the day even better. The Philadelphia Museum of Art was hosting an exhibit called Visions of Arcadia with paintings by Gauguin, Cezanne, Matisse and others. The paintings were French artists' interpretations of paradise, contentment and harmony.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, with famous steps in front.

From the top of the steps looking back over the city. Lots of tourists were taking
Rocky-posed pictures while Philadelphians ran up and down the steps for exercise.

"Large Bathers" by Cezanne, part of the Arcadia exhibit.

After a few hours of quietly looking at paintings, we ate lunch and walked down the street to The Franklin Institute. I really liked the TFI because it presents scientific concepts in a simple yet sophisticated way to keep both kids and adults interested. Almost everything was hands-on and we had a lot of fun doing the little "experiments" and testing the theorems for ourselves!

On the steps of the Franklin Institute.

A live science demonstration in front of the statue of Franklin.

We measured how much blood we have based on our weight.

A huge human heart!

You can climb inside the heart and follow the path of
blood through the right side, to the lungs and out
through the left side of the heart. Here Joe is getting
pumped though the right ventricle.

Joe explaining to me all the surgical instruments.

Shaquille O'Neal's size 22 shoe--part of an exhibit on the wide
range of body sizes of professional athletes and the physics of sports.

The Franklin Institute had a Dead Sea Scrolls traveling exhibit when we
were there. This cylindrical jar is similar to ones that the scrolls were found
in and dates back to the first century BC to first century AD.

Ancient pottery.

An ancient bath.