Today we went to the
Carnegie Science Center
in Pittsburgh. We didn't arrive there until after 1 pm, and it was
recommended that we not try to see two movies and all the exhibits
in only four hours. But Mary wasn't feeling too well, so the idea of
sitting
for a while in the IMAX movie theater appealed to her.
We signed up for two movies: Magnificent Desolation (about moon
exploration), and The Mystery of the Nile (about the first
traversal of the complete Blue Nile from Ethiopia to the Mediterranean).
We also saw a presentation called Stars Over Pittsburgh, which
presented a simulation of the night sky. The presentation showed how
to locate and identify the various constellations visible during
spring and summer in Pittsburgh.
The museum had a WWII submarine, the USS Requin, that you could go
inside and explore. We were surprised at the ease with which we could
move around, but the very small spaces provided for the sailors to sleep.
The museum had exhibits about the eye, color, prisms, sound, earthquakes,
airplane wings and air pressure, among others. We did not see everything
in the museum, but we were happy with what we were able to get to.
The exhibits are really geared toward younger people, but they were
still interesting to us old folks.
Pittsburgh has interesting geography. The Allegheny River flows in
from the north, and combines with the Monongahela River, which flows
in from West Virginia to the southeast,
to form the Ohio River, which flows out to the
west. Consequently, the city has lots of bridges over the rivers.
Where the rivers come together, there is Point State Park, which we
tried to get to, but we could not find parking nearby. I thought it
would be fun to dip our ties into three large rivers at the same time.
The National Aviary, the Carnegie Science Museum, and two ball fields
are in the North Shore area, north of all the rivers. The downtown
area, the universities, and the "strip" are located between the
Allegheny and the Monongahela. We also drove around near Frick Park
and Squirrel Hill, a hilly area to the east of the universities.
We got lost but eventually found our way to a freeway, and we were
on our way to Harrisburg and the Amish country.
