Today we went to see the opening of the new Benjamen Franklin exhibit at the History Museum in downtown St. Paul. We saw some of his his books, his chair, his china bowl, his silver spoon, the huge bible he gave to his daughter upon her marriage, and copies of his newspaper. He's an interesting guy. When I was a child, my Grandparents had a bank account at the Ben Franklin bank on Wabasha in St. Paul. I was given a Ben Franklin bank. My bank is a coppery looking bust of old Ben and there is money in it that must be from the 1960's. I've been intrigued by Ben Franklin for a long time. A couple years ago Offspring #1 gave me a biography of Franklin that was very interesting. He was a vegetarian, like me. He was curious, practical, and he tried to make the world a better place. He was an inventor, a free-thinker, patriotic, and a slave-holding womanizer. We watched an actor portray Franklin in a 40 minute speech. Some parts were interesting and others were too long. There was one point in the speech when Ben looked up at the audience, taking our measure, and spoke about how they tried to write the constitution so that we, their progeny, would proper and thrive. For a second, I could actually believe this was the real Ben from the past observing and evaluating the citizens from the future. Beside the Ben Franklin exhibit, there are other exhibits to walk through. We especially liked the "Greatest Generation," the Minnesota 150, and the weather exhibit. One of my favorite things at this museum is Princes' purple jacket. Now they have headphones next to the jacket and you can listen to Purple Rain, Raspberry Beret, or other hits. The History Museum is a great place to spend an afternoon. We got there at 2 and the museum closes at 5. I wish we had another hour to spend there.
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