Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh
TG and I first hung out in Pittsburgh in the waning hours of the winter of 2017, just days before I had my first (of two, haha) hip replacement surgeries.
We had a wonderful time on that trip. A business matter was the reason we were there, but when TG announced he'd have to make the journey, I decided to go along and quickly sussed out the best, biggest, most historic cemetery in town: Allegheny.
A kind lady with a white dog took our picture
So that we could visit it, and walk it, take it all in, and -- best of all -- take pictures of it.
It remains one of the most wildly beautiful cemeteries we have seen on our travels, which have included touring and photographing around seventy huge, historic cemeteries (all east of the Rockies) in the last thirteen years.
The inside of the Cathedral of Learning looked like ... a cathedral
It was at Allegheny Cemetery that for the first time in our experience, we encountered whole herds of deer.
They take the breath away. Pun intended.
The Pitt campus is beautiful and well-tended
When we were there in early March of 2017, I decided that I wanted to go back sometime in the autumn of the year.
So it was that in 2022, when planning our fall trip which we knew would include Shanksville, I realized that my friend Sara lived but a few hours from Shanksville, and that Shanksville was only a ninety-minute drive from Pittsburgh.
Looking back across Bigelow Boulevard
The itinerary began to take shape.
Another, final destination, which is also a mere ninety minutes from Pittsburgh, rounded out our trip.
TG in front of the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial
I'll tell you about that next time.
We arrived in Pittsburgh in the early evening of the day that saw us tour the Flight 93 National Memorial -- which is actually located in Stoystown, Pennsylvania.
Pittsburgh drivers get right up in your space
After enjoying a solidly good dinner at a non-chain restaurant in Somerset, we moseyed on up the road to Pitt.
We stayed in the same hotel where we hunkered down in 2017. I make sure to hold onto that information if the stay is a pleasant one, which it was then and which it was this time as well.
You can see Pittsburgh from on high if you're so inclined
On the morning of our first day in Pittsburgh, I wanted to go downtown.
That's where the campus of the University of Pittsburgh is situated, and in particular, the 1920s Gothic Revival/Art Deco architectural masterpiece known as the Cathedral of Learning.
The view from the window of the tiny red funicular car ... going up
I'd seen it from afar -- as the tallest educationally purposed building in the Western Hemisphere, it has a high profile -- in 2017, and had vowed to get closer the next time we went.
It did not disappoint. the building is gorgeous and imposing, mysterious in the way that only Gothic-style edifices can be, set in stunning manicured lawns, and surrounded on that day by an azure sky.
Confluence of the Ohio, the Allegheny, and the Monongahela ... click to embiggen
I was so thrilled to be there. The Heinz Memorial Chapel sits not far from the Cathedral of Learning, and on its steps we met a lady and her little white dog. She offered to take our picture with my new favorite building in the background.
After that we went inside the Cathedral of Learning, the first floor of which actually resembles a European cathedral.
Ginkgo trees are everywhere in Pittsburgh ... the yellow fans carpet sidewalks
We rode the high-tech elevators up to a higher floor but what exists there in the way of an observatory, was closed. Having not learned a whole lot, we went back outside.
Moving on, we walked around for a while, hanging out and taking a few pictures on the grounds of the nearby Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum.
Our personal tour guide at PNC Park
We did not go inside because had we done so, I would have lost TG for the better part of three hours as he read every last syllable of every last word posted on every last exhibit.
The pirate has all respect for soldiers and sailors alike but on that day I had no desire to haunt a museum.
TG in the Pirates dugout
Back at our car, we found that folks in Pittsburgh are fearless when it comes to the space between cars while parallel parking.
(It was by happy chance -- not to mention common courtesy -- that TG had left ample room between our front bumper and the back bumper of the car ahead of us, or we might still be sitting there.)
Our tour guide took this one with my phone
In preparing for our trip, I'd drawn a bead on another large cemetery besides Allegheny: Homewood.
I walked there and took pictures for an hour or so while TG cruised around in the car, using the map he'd procured in the front office to locate famous graves.
Pirate Pair :: Me and Roberto Clemente
We were hungry then, so we drove to a near suburb and had a delicious early dinner at Texas Roadhouse.
(In case you're wondering, no: We don't as a rule seek out trendy eating places or watering holes when we visit new cities. We are more 24-hour-diner than fine-dining types and we don't drink, so going to the TR for a reliably good -- and affordable -- steak is culinary adventure enough for us.)
The leaves were past peak but still ravishing
As it was late afternoon by then, we decided to round out the day by revisiting the Duquesne Incline.
Turns out there are two inclines in Pittsburgh: the Duquesne and the Monongahela.
Point State Park was quiet but full of stunning beauty
They say you haven't experienced Pittsburgh until you've taken a ride up the Monongahela Incline.
Then I guess we haven't experienced Pittsburgh yet, because in 2017 we didn't even know about the Monongahela Incline, and on this visit, it was closed for renovations.
But many trees were already bare ... and would soon be shivering
But the views of Pittsburgh are stunning from the top of the Duquesne Incline, and even when you've already seen it, there's still lots to appreciate.
It would soon be dark, so we set out for the barn but stopped by a grocery store on the way, for snacks.
Everywhere you look in Pittsburgh, there is yellow
While on trips, unless we are in town for an event, as a rule we like to spend the evenings in our hotel room, propped up in the king-sized bed, TG surfing on his iPad and me on my MacBook Pro.
We are as boring as a White House Press Conference, with more lying about but less lying.
Acrisure Stadium :: Home of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Click to embiggen.
The next morning, after breakfast and coffee, we headed for PNC Park (home of the Pittsburgh Pirates), where we had tickets for a guided tour.
We arrived in time to plunder the gift shop, where we bought a few tee shirts and a fridge magnet.
Fort Pitt. We went into the gift shop and bought a few things for the kids.
It turned out that no one else showed up for the reservations-only ninety-minute tour. As a result, we had our tour guide to ourselves. I was seriously into that because I'm selfish.
Each time we have taken guided tours of ball parks -- like Camden Yards (during the same trip when we visited the grave of Edgar Allan Poe) and Fenway Park in 2019 -- our tour guides have been older men who are lifelong residents and fans of the subject ball club.
Allegheny Cemetery is endless natural and funereal gorgeousness
These gentlemen are SO great on a tour of the ball park. They know everything and can answer all questions and it's just delightful.
After that we drove a few blocks to Point State Park, which to be honest I thought would be a little more action-packed than it actually was. It was in fact all but deserted.
I made a beeline for the Porter angel, one of the loveliest monuments at Allegheny. Click to see the back.
The weather was warm but not too warm, and overcast -- my favorite favorite absolute favorite sort of weather for walking around outside. I was dressed just right to be comfortable, and the light was ideal for pictures of the rivers and bridges and fall foliage.
Alas the majestic fountain had been turned off for the winter, that very DAY. You can see it in full function in our pictures of the point taken from the top of the incline a scant twenty hours earlier.
Sights like this are everywhere at Allegheny Cemetery
Then it was time to drive out to Allegheny Cemetery and spend the afternoon there.
It was as splendid as I'd remembered, and I walked and walked and walked in the spring-like autumn weather.
The deer was neither amazed nor startled to see me
Spates of light rain put only a tiny damper on my perambulating and picture taking. We saw the deer again, although not in as great numbers as last time.
Again: we'd worked up an appetite. I consulted my phone for the nearest -- don't hate -- Cracker Barrel.
This monument to a long-ago little girl broke my heart
Again: At least there, you more or less know what you're going to get.
Again: Our dinner was delicious and by six o'clock or so, we were back in the room preparing to relax for the evening.
Pittsburgh deer are particularly imperturbable ... click to embiggen
The next morning we set out early for the long drive home, but with a detour to a place that I have read about and wanted to visit for at least thirty years.
Maybe some of you have guessed the place, but please don't speculate in the comments.
One last look at the Paris of Appalachia
I want it to be a surprise.
And that is all for now except to say, I hope you are having a good week so far -- hitting all of your marks, righting wrongs and rerighting rights, slaying the dragons and making your dreams come true.
=0=0=0=
Happy Tuesday
