Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

On Saturday, The Gryphon and I didn't have any plans except to get my new computer up and functioning.

After I did some work in the morning, we talked about maybe going into center city and seeing the Titanic exhibit at the Franklin Institute. The Gryphon suggested it, because he thought it sounded interesting.

We got there by about 2 p.m., which was plenty of time for the exhibit but didn't leave much time for anything else in the museum. It's a shame, because you had to pay as if you'd be able to see everything.

Another strange aspect to the ticketing was you had to pay extra to do the audio portion of the tour. We decided we didn't need to.

I've been fascinated with the Titanic for a long time now, and I thought it would be interesting to see some actual artifacts with it.

The way they had the exhibit set up was a little strange. Because of the audio tour, they had it set up in a very linear way. And because the pathway through the exhibit was so narrow, when people stopped to listen to something, everyone behind them had to just wait.

But they did get creative with some of the settings. In the beginning, where we learned about boarding the ship and what kinds of people got on the ship, they had a couple rooms set up like docks, with crates and luggage.

When they talked about the living experience on board, they had some rooms set up to demonstrate the hallways and dining area. They had a fantastic reproduction of the grand staircase, too, although everyone was arguing over whether it was life-sized, since it didn't say.

In the portion that talked about the fatal accident with the iceberg, they actually had a hunk of ice sticking up out of a pedestal on the floor. You could touch it see how cold it was. From all the people who had done this, there were hand prints.

But of course, the most fascinating thing for me were the artifacts themselves, rescued from the bottom of the ocean floor, in strikingly good condition now that they'd been restored. We learned how that was done at the end of the tour.

The artifacts were often displayed in dim light or in climate controlled boxes. They had everything from personal effects like shaving brushes and necklaces, to personal papers. The interesting thing about this is that the only papers that survived were those inside leather suitcases. The tanning process protected these papers from underwater parasites.

They actually had some clothing, rescued from suitcases. They had items that you'd never expect could have survived, including delicate items like porcelain which had survived the underwater pressures and the rescue attempts.

I particularly liked reading the stories they had throughout the exhibit about various passengers: why they got on the boat, why they were traveling, what happened to them. Near the end, they included some stories from the Philadelphia area.

One that struck me in particular was a third class passenger from Ireland, whose family had held a wake for her before she left, not knowing if they'd ever see her again. As a parting gift, they gave her a knife. She had that knife on her the night of the accident, which proved handy in cutting the lines that tied a collapsible lifeboat to the ship. If she hadn't had that knife, everyone on that collapsible lifeboat would most likely have died.

Once we had gotten through the exhibit, we watched most of a film called "How Things Work," an independent film that uses principles of physics to transfer motion from one thing to another in inventive ways.

By this time the museum was closing down, and we were getting hungry so we looked for a place to eat. We'd parked in a parking garage on Market Street, because it's always tough to find parking right around the museum district. And I really don't like valet lots. They make me nervous.

So we walked back in that direction, to see what we could find. We passed up a couple places that might have been good but which didn't look exciting enough. Then we saw something intriguing: a restaurant that looked a bit like a diner.

"Wow, this used to be a furniture store," The Gryphon remarked.

As we were looking at the menu, a passersby called out that it was supposed to be a good place to eat. We decided to try it. It was called the Continental.

Inside, it was decorated very retro, a feel which was matched by the wait staff's clothing. The food was terrific. They had playful drinks. I had a Buzz Aldrin, which had Tang drizzled on the rim of the glass. Tasty.

The entrees were family-sized, so we shared a calamari salad and some seared salmon, both of which were fab. For dessert, they had gourmet desserts. I had a peanut butter cup, which was a little square pastry with peanut butter and chocolate, dipped in chocolate and with chocolate sauce dripped on the plate. Yummy.

Definitely a place we'll want to go again and maybe take some friends.

Copyright 2004 by Alyce Wilson

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