TITANIC

This morning Joe, Elaine and I went to the Franklin Institute here in Philadelphia.

The top of the building says "In Honor of Benjamin Franklin".

We went to see an exhibit on the Titanic!

It was totally awesome!  We weren't allowed to take pictures in the exhibit.  Too bad because there would have been some great shots.  But there were cameras monitoring us at all times, so we would have been kicked out.

It was upstairs from my favorite staircase with the pendulum.  Every time I look down at the pendulum I feel like I'm going to fall over the side of the railing.  But of course it is perfectly safe and I never do.

 
As we went in we were each given a "boarding pass".   Each pass had the name of an actual passenger and some background on them.  At the end of the exhibit you found out if you lived or died.

 

I was Mrs. Sam Aks (Leah Rosen), 18 years old, from London, England.  I had a 10 month old son (Frank) with me.  I was traveling to Norfolk, Virginia to reunite with my husband, Sam, who had established a tailor shop.  Leah was born in Warsaw, Poland but moved to England when quite young.  Leah and Frank were assigned their own 3rd class cabin.

Elaine was Mrs. Pekka Pietari Hakkarainen (Elin Matilda Dolck), 24 years old, from Helsinki, Finland.  She was accompanied by her husband Pekka Hakkarainen.  They were traveling to Monessen, Pennsylvania.  Elin and her husband were fleeing the economic hardship and political oppression caused by the Russian occupation of Finland.  If the couple had stayed in Finland, Pekka would have been forced to serve in the Russian army.  Both Elin and Pekka had lived in the U.S.  Elin worked for four years as a domestic servant in Quincy, Massachusetts; Pekka worked for five years as a foreman in a steel mill in Monessen, Pennsylvania, making $5 a day.  They were married in Finland on January 15, 1912 just four months before the Titanic sank.  They traveled 3rd class.

Joe was Mr. Leonard Mark Hickman, aged 24, from west Hampstead, London, England.  He was traveling with his two brothers Lewis and Stanley.  They were going to Neepawa, Manitoba, Canada.  Having immigrated to Manitoba, Canada, in 1908 and having found good paying work as a farm laborer, Leonard returned to his hometown of Pritham, England, and convinced all eleven members of his family to travel with him to Canada.  Due to the coal strike, only Leonard and two of his brothers were able to book transatlantic passage on Titanic.  They traveled 2nd class.

The exhibit had all kinds of things recovered from the Titanic.  Everything from gears, rivets, wrenches, to a silver purse, gold jewelry, shoe brushes, china, a shaving kit, clothing in a leather suitcase, and lots more.  Beautiful things!  Over 10 rooms full of things and information.  On the walls were interesting facts about the Titanic and the people who traveled on her.  There was even a recreation of a room where the workers slept.  It was the best of the best even for the lower classes.  There was even an iceberg that was ICY!!!  I touched it and my hand was cold for at least 15 minutes.  Oh how I wish I had been allowed to take pictures!!!

The three of us even had our picture taken on a recreation of the grand staircase.  I tried to take a picture of the picture, but it just didn't turn out.

In the end we found out that I and my baby survived.  Elaine survived, but her husband died.  And Joe and both of his brothers died.

In the gift shop Joe bought me a bracelet that I'm going to try to put on a chain and make into a necklace.

 As we were going out we stopped in the lobby where there is a gigantic statue of Benjamin Franklin to take a few pictures.

Elaine and Joe

Elaine, me and Joe

 

This is the astrolabe in the park across the street from the museum.

Also across from the museum is the main branch of the Free Library.  This is where all the administrative offices are, besides having the largest holdings of books, videos, sheet music, rare books, etc.  I was tempted to stop in Human Resources and say hello, but thought no.  It's my day off!

After we left the museum we went to Thomas Jefferson Hospital to get the stitches out of Joe's mouth.  The dentists think he is doing very well and healing nicely.  The past couple of days he is in a lot less pain, so that is good.

It was lots of fun driving in center city -- NOT.  I hate that the streets are one-way and I can't get to where I want to go without driving blocks out of my way.  But we finally made it home (with a stop at Wawa for hoagies for dinner).  I rented a copy of the movie "Lincoln" and we are going to watch it while we eat this evening.  It was a great day off.

Back to work tomorrow.  Let's see how much I can do with this arm of mine.  It is so much better that I think I will be just fine!