She could handle the story of how the Liberty Bell cracked and why George Washington's slave quarters are an open wound, and if her 52-year-old sister, Ping Liu, had any questions about freedom of speech, she had only to walk past the Mumia protesters handing out literature at the Visitor Center.
But when they came to the corner of Fifth and Chestnut, Frowine was stumped.
For there, kitty-corner from the stately Independence Hall, was a stretch of regal red carpet leading to a sculpture of the signers of the Declaration of Independence - carved from a four-foot-high and -wide, solid, one-ton block of mild, orange Wisconsin cheddar cheese.
"I'm trying to explain," Frowine said, and then attempted to translate into Mandarin the cultural and culinary significance of cheese, cheesesteaks, "wit'," and Cheez-It crackers, which sponsored the stunt.
After several attempts, Frowine sighed. "She doesn't understand."
Well, neither did a lot of natives. But that didn't stop them from being impressed.
"That's awesome!" said Tommy Kananen, a 12-year-old from Wilmington, congratulating the sculptor, Troy Landwehr, who stood on the corner, watching protectively over his work.
"Thanks," Landwehr said. He has a long and interesting story about the genesis of the cheese sculpture, inspired by John Trumbull's famous painting and executed in a walk-in refrigerator over the course of two weeks. But in assessing the course of yesterday's events, there's just not enough time for the full retelling.
Not if there's going to be room to acknowledge Mayor Nutter's frank address at the morning ceremony, before a crowd of several hundred citizens who showed up in defiance of threatening clouds and infelictious drizzle.
