Pittsburgh

Phipps Botanical Garden

We had a loud thunderstorm last night with both flood and tornado warnings, but nothing serious occurred. The forecast for today is rain, so we’re primarily going to do indoor things. (Turns out we didn’t have any rain.) We started at the Phipps Botanical Garden, which is almost all under glass. The place is filled with ferns, palms, and tropical plants from all over the world. They were featuring flower arrangements that mimicked Van Gogh paintings, which didn’t add a lot to the exhibit. The highlights were the orchids, which we learned grow all over the world, including above the artic circle. There were also several formal garden areas which were quite impressive. We’ve seen a lot of botanical gardens, this one rated as okay, but not great.

Cathedral of Learning

Within a 10-minute walk, we were at the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh campus. This 32-story building lower floors mimic a gothic cathedral. The fame of the building, however, is the nationality classrooms on the third floor. Each of these rooms is devoted to a country, who are represented today in the immigrant families of Pittsburgh. Some of these are very ornate rooms with the architecture of the country represented in the seating arrangements, the tables, the windows, and the walls. Many have small exhibits of artifacts from the country as well as carvings in the door frame. Each room provides a narration about the country. Among the nation rooms we saw were Japan, Armenia, Switzerland, Austria, and Africa.

Armenia Room

Time for a late lunch or early dinner. We decided to try the Church Brew Pub which is built inside a former Catholic Church. The church was abandoned as the industry and population of Pittsburgh declined and churches were consolidated. The interior is interesting, and the food and drink were excellent, but it felt strange with the vats on the altar and stained glass windows all around. Their motto: “And on the eighth day man created beer”.

Church Brew Pub