Pittsburgh, PA
May 15th, 2013
Pittsburgh is known as the "Steel City." Home of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
This classy crosstown is surprisingly entertaining. The diverse food, the museums and just the look of the city-scape. Your eyes will glitter at the multicolored homes, nestled right in with skyscrapers.
Then, like a sword of knowledge aiming to the heavens is the Cathedral of Learning building.
The University of Pittsburgh 42-story Cathedral of Learning known as the "World's tallest schoolhouse," reaches a height of 535 ft. Constructed between 1926 & 1938, it's Turcated Gothic style whose vertical lines never meet, signifies that education never ends.
>Info from the back of a postcard<
~Pitt's, "The Strip District"~
This is a neighborhood that is rich with different culture and spans approximately one/half square mile. You can shop, eat, buy groceries, find local art or pick up a Steeler's jersey. Jane, my travel partner and I had a bite at the well known PA Macaroni Co.
Campbell's Soup & Bananas
If you like the obscure, strange and just plain amusing art...
Be sure to check out the Warhol Museum.
It is seven floors dedicated to Andy Warhol's entire body of work.
Very cool!
He has always been one of my favorite artists.
Mr. Bill Murray!
Silver Gelatin print on canvas. 1987
Mr. Murray used to hang at Warhol's, the Factory/ studio in NYC in the 80's.
Strange but lovely Andy.
The Duquesne Incline is a must do!
This incline was built in 1887 and still operates today. The Duquesne has a height of 800 ft. and takes you to the top of Mount Washington. The fee per person is $5.00.
Climbing into the old wooden box and finding a seat is fun, but when the incline starts it's ascent... the views are spectacular. Even better when you reach the top.
Me making light of the "Points of View" statue.
-OPA!-
After a long and fun day, Jane and I decided to crash an annual Greek Orthodox, food festival downtown.
It was fantastic food! Home made everything and my favorites were the Baklava sundae and the honey cakes.
Greek Band, Opa!
Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History
Picture from Carnegie.com
This, my friends, was a very special treat for me!
When I was a young lady, still in high school. I went to science camp my Junior Summer...
Yes, I know what you are thinking... and yes, I am a totally proud geek, nerd, or whatever you
want to call it.
That summer, I started a reseach project that introduced me to the extraordinary world of Paleontology. During that time, I taught myself to set up grids and how to use a tripod to look for fossils. The area was dense with fossil flora and fauna.
That's when I discovered a very unique fossil specimen for that area. It is called a Pipestoneia douglassi.
This fossil helped me determine what type of plants were being ate, in that area, at the time and thus painting a picture of the prehistoric biome conditions. Needless to say, I won at the science fair that year and was awarded a scholarship for college.
The person who helped me identify the fossil is Alan Tabrum of the Carnegie Museum. He said that I had found something special and that it belonged in a museum. He then told me that he would catalogue it for me and keep it safe at the Carnegie Museum.
Well, since I was going to be in Pittsburgh, 12 years later, I decided to get in touch with Alan and see what had ever happened to that very special fossil...
I met with Alan on 5-16-13. He took me on a tour of the "guts" of the Museum. I learned that the fossil that I had found was located in the "Little Bone Room."
It's not much to the naked eye, but under a microscope you cold clearly see that it was marked upon and studied thoroughly.
Alan then took me through the rest of the museum. We had lunch and a very nice visit.
Thank you very much Mr. Tabrum. What a great experience!
Big Bone Room
Mammoth Tusks
Dinosaur eggs
Rhinoceros knee caps
Mirror sides of a fish
Fossil Bank of the Carnegie
Mammoth
Big elk
Same T-Rex that they used for the outside of the Rockie Museum of Bozeman, MT.
I was able to visit the Art history portion before I left Pitts.
Andy Warhol's of Andrew Carnegie
Van Gough
Monet
THANK YOU PITTSBURGH!
PS. Please feel free to comment and ask questions. I will respond to you.
