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After an evening of lots of laughs and warm family time with everyone trying to keep everyone else on task to put dinner on the table, we settled in for a good night’s rest. Aside: my sister and her husband have just about every single bit of wall space in their comfy home taken up with books – a home library to be reckoned with!

The next day was clear and sunny, but cold, and we were off to visit the University of Pittsburgh. The area around the Pitt campus is bordered by Carlow University, Carnegie Mellon University, Montefiore Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital, and a whole host of other educational and cultural venues, plus lots of little shops and eateries (including ones that know what vegetarian means other than a salad of greens!).

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
Although it was Monday and the university would be starting classes on Wednesday, most of the buildings were still closed for winter break. Our first stop was Wesley W. Posvar Hall (WWPH), the largest academic building on campus.

It reminded us of an airport inside and the minute we said that, we noticed the plane hanging from the ceiling. In fact, it is one of the two remaining Langley Aerodromes (the other is on display at the Smithsonian), an umanned tandem-wing flying machine built at the end of the 19th century. No. 6 was launched by a catapult from a houseboat in the Potomac River and flew about 5000 feet! Another interesting tidbit about WWPH is that it was built on the site of the former Forbes Field, that historical ballpark of the Pittsburgh Pirates where Babe Ruth hit his last two home runs. The actual home plate is preserved in the floor of Posvar.

Our next stop, after finding the Hillman Library and the Pitt Union closed, was the Cathedral of Learning.

This landmark building is the tallest education building in the Western Hemisphere,the second tallest university building in the world, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in the style of late Gothic Revival, the lobby, or Commons Room, reminded us of what we thought Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series would look like!

Also in this impressive building are 27 Nationality Rooms, rooms that were designed and decorated to represent the styles of different nations and ethnic groups. They are functional classrooms and were still all decked out for the holidays when we were there. What fun to take a class in one of these!

German Nationality Room

Ukrainian Nationality Room

The blackboards were behind these doors!

Early American Nationality Room

Austrian Nationality Room

Who wouldn’t want to take a class in this elegant room!

Continuing on our walking tour, we passed by the Log Cabin. Apparently this cute little building from the 1800’s is only a symbol of Pitt’s humble beginnings in 1787 and has little historical significance to the University other than that. It is currently used as a storage shed by the Pitt grounds maintenance crew.

We also checked out Carnegie Hall, Dippy the diplodocus with her red bow for the holidays, and stopped in the Carnegie Library, before crossing the bridge to Schenley Park and the gorgeous Phipps Conservatory. More on that tomorrow!

We made a quick trip to Washington for a long weekend last week for our daughter to visit George Washington University for grad school and to see a few of the historic sites. There was just over a foot of snow here when we left,

but that amount quickly dwindled and the landscape was brown and barren with just flashes of snow here and there on the way. A few flakes were drifting down as we approached Washington, but nothing to speak of according to upper New York State standards.

Washington Memorial

Unfortunately, Washingtonians apparently thought a ‘snowmageddon’ was approaching because the salt trucks were out in force, spewing megatons of salt over every inch of the highways. In fact, when we awoke the next day, there were piles of salt all over the roads up to three inches deep in places, and thick clouds of salt dust were kicked up over everything and everybody as traffic passed by.

Landscaping note: Snow, by itself, is good for the garden – it adds moisture and, if deep enough, can protect plants from drying winter winds. In fact, both snow and rain can deposit a small amount of nitrogen, sort of a ‘poor man’s fertilizer.’ But adding salt to the equation means damage to plants and the environment, with both direct and indirect effects, and short and long term effects. More information can be found here.

After traipsing around GW, the Metro zipped us to the National Mall and we visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History for a lecture, “Fossil Forensics: Investigating How Early Humans Died,” a topic of great interest to a future anthropologist.

At the Smithsonian - National Museum of Natural History

What a fabulous place that was! A return visit the next day to see more of it and a very few of the other historic sights only served to whet the appetite to see more. (more…)