Pittsburgh

 We spent the day sight seeing in Pittsburgh. This is a typical toll road above. We passed many of these on the roads. Some of them were automatic, so that was new for us.

Pittsburgh was about 40 minutes from Shirley`s house (Linda`s mum) and we were surprised that the road was very quiet driving in. Pittsburgh was named after the Prime Minister of England, William Pitt.

 Travelling through a tunnel just before we got to the city.

 Coming out of the tunnel and into the city.

The city center. Phil managed so well with his driving in these large cities, although Pittsburgh was not as big as Boston. When we went to Boston, we didn`t drive through the city center but parked at a station and caught the train in.

Crossing the Smithfield bridge to go to the other side where we parked at Station square.

After we parked on the other side, we went up Mount Washington in a "trolley car."

The view from the station where we parked. You can see the Smithfield Street bridge and the PPG Place (glass buidling) in the background.

The view from the top of Mount Washington. It was strange to think that George Washington walked here once......................This is Liberty Bridge.

This is the Monongahela River. The one thing about Pittsburgh is that it has so many bridges. Pennsylvania was named after William Penn who fought for religious freedom as well as fighting for the rights of the indians. Pittsburg is in PA state (Pennsylvania).

A better view of liberty Bridge at the very top above. The next photo is of the Fort Pitt Bridge which runs across the Monongahela River just before the 2 rivers meet with the Ohio River. You can also see the Heinz Field in the background where they play football but don`t ask me what the teams are called as I have no idea.

There were many view points along the way. This was taken from one of our view points looking back up to the Mountain.

From another view point.

The street as we walked up to the next point.

Some houses along the street. 

See the city center in the background and the sign above saying "Mount Washington."

This is a closer view of the Fort Pitt Bridge and the "trio Rivers."

Some more houses above. The houses were really big.

Murray and Duncan standing on one of the view points.

Just showing some more big houses in the back ground............................

.......................and the beautiful flowering trees...................

Pittsburgh also has much history. The Pittsburgh area became a battle ground when the French and British fought for control in the 1750`s. The rivers Allegheny and the Monongohela River meet to form the Ohio River and this area became a strategic junction. Can you see where the two rivers meet in the above 2 photos? The top one is more clear. Note the many bridges!

After quite a long walk, and after stopping at all the view points, we all enjoyed some yummy ice creams! I think Duncan thought he was going to have two. Not sure what Phil would have thought about him eating his ice cream........................!?

Spring has sprung - just showing a little path where the flowers were starting to bloom. Luke has taken off his jersey. It ended up being really hot that day.

The trolley car came back to fetch us and took us back down the mountain.

Duncan and Phil with the city in the background.

A bit of sight seeing at the bottom of Mount Washington at Station Square. There were some water front shops and many restaurants and it looks like this is the place for the locals to go in the evenings.

This building is a called PPG Place (Pittsburgh Glass Place) and it is all made of glass. We didn`t get to take a closer look.

Later that afternoon we were invited for dinner by a South African family who now live here. On the way to them, we came across many massive homes. This area used to be farm land that was sold off as individual plots so the drive there was very beautiful.

I called this "the castle." It was absolutely massive - in fact the photo doesn`t really show how big it really was. Apparently it cost 17 million to build.

I was trying to take photos from a moving car again, but hopefully you can see this house?

Gabriel and Petro from South Africa, now living here, Bonnie (whom I met at the precepts conference), Phil and myself. It was such a lovely evening and we all so enjoyed sharing our African stories and spending time together.

Another big house above.

We have already been to the Creation Museum in Kentucky and so that will be my next post. We are driving back to Charleroi later today and then we will be in D.C. I have so many photos to upload for the Creation Museum, so this one will take me awhile. I am trying to keep up with all my posts as we are so busy and so there is not too much time. Phil and I are being so challenged, inspired and ready to begin some new chapters in our lives! This journey has been so good for all of us.

Look out for my next post on the Creation Museum! We had an awesome time there!

Love to you all

xxxxxxx