Pittsburgh

Apr 26, my morning walk took me through more of Gettysburg; a dewy, hazy morning with pics taken through the mist.

The cannon ball that blasted this hole in the upper bedroom wall did not explode and is preserved in the museum at the visitor centre.

The 4-hr drive to Pittsburgh took us through Shanksville PA, where we passed a sign for the Flight 93 memorial honouring the heroes that fought the high jackets on 9-11, forcing the flight to crash with no survivors, but also with additional casualties.

The site is very well done (no pics in respect for the memorial). The Tower of Voices is a couple of kilometres from the visitors centre.

With the extra time spent at the memorial, we arrived at our Wyndham Hotel in time to check in and then walk to the hockey game. Our home team losing streak continues with Edmonton winning 5-1.

Big differences between the experience at the Washington vs the Pittsburgh arena. Washington was really loud; painfully loud from the time we arrived 45 min before game time and during every possible break in play. It was tiring, difficult to talk and impossible to understand announcements and “song” lyrics. In contrast, the Pittsburgh arena also had announcements, music, and other activities before the game and between game play, but the volume was such that it was a much more pleasant experience. We were able to have a conversation with the fans seated next to us. We were able to enjoy the game experience.

One thing I did like about the Washington arena was the scoreboard always showing the players on the ice, with their game stats. We missed that at the Penguins game.

Apr 27 morning and afternoon walks - very cold today with a high of 4 degrees and brisk wind gusts. Glad I brought my winter coat and lots of layers.

In the morning I walked along the north and south shore parks. Memorial to Law Enforcement Officers - very appropriate since there’s a K9 cop convention at our hotel. We are constantly surrounded by cops and service dogs. We were happy the antsy one in the elevator this afternoon was muzzled. The other dogs have been calmer.

There was also a memorial to Mr. Rogers. The statue seemed a bit odd - looked like it was made of mud.

I walked across the Andy Warhol bridge and enjoyed the nice parks on both sides

And a Vietnam memorial - I liked how the statues seemed to be of families reuniting after the war.

Later in the day (having hoped in vain that it would warm up a bit), we walked to the Duquesne Incline funicular up to the Washington lookout. Up and then backdown again. A nice museum with pictures and postcards of cable cars from around the world and an observation deck with views of the bridges and downtown.

The official stats show attendance at the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game this evening as 8,331 (22% capacity), but that seems really high compared to what we saw. Perhaps that is based on paid tickets. Only a few braved the cold, bundled up and wrapped layers of clothing and blankets. I think more hot chocolate and coffee was sold than beer. We had great seats, bought cheaply. We spent a couple of innings in the souvenir shop, which was heated, with others watching the game on the TV.
Another home team loss, low scoring. You can see in the pics how few fans were in the seats.
Pics of the stadium and game

And the cold walk home. You can see the red line of the funicular in the first pic.