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Phipps Botanical Garden
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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.
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Cathedral of Learning
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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.
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Armenia Room
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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”.
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Church Brew Pub
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