The Saga of D.C. {Part 2}

According to my journal (which cannot always be depended on for its reliability) I got rousted out of bed at the obscenely early hour of 7 a.m. to leave for Pittsburg, PA. 

Pittsburg was pretty sweet. 

I love the hilly row houses and the impossible streets and the view over the lake. I said "guys, someday I want to live here", but by the time we left, I was ok with just visiting. 

First off, we took a trip down the Dusquene Incline (which is a little old trolley car type thing that carries you up and down a steep grade). A lady we met on the car said that she used it for her commute every day. What a way to start your morning! 

Here is a shot of the interior of the car (and one overexposed friend):

At the bottom we landed in a quaint, old-fashioned station complete with wooden settle and pot-bellied stove. 

After wandering around a bit at the bottom (there really wasn't much to see), we rode back up and took a gander off the observation deck, which boasted a lovely view of the city (see above) and made some new friends (see below). 

Norman and I

Then we went to Bessemer Court, which is a small square on the river surrounded by restaurants. In the middle there's an enormous fountain with a very intricate piping system powering fountains that choreograph to the music played over the speaker system. It was really, really cool. 

We had lunch there and fed the birds until the entire winged population of the square found out about it and we amassed a tell-tale flock that sat there, watching us with very unsettling expectancy. 

We left Pittsburg and drove straight to Gettysburg where we managed to make it through the entire Gettysburg museum in about an hour. The question remains how much we got out of it, but it only remains and shall not be answered. 

During that hour, we watched an interesting short film about the three day battle and we saw the cyclorama - an enormous oil painting that wrapped around a circular room and depicted that battle as well. It was neat to look at because (as the picture below vaguely shows) they built up a real wall from the stage we stood on to the painting and it shifted from reality to representation flawlessly. You really had to look hard to see where the wall ended and where the painting began! 

After that experience, hurried as it was, I definitely knew more about the battle of Gettysburg than I formerly did - though a pop quiz is not exactly on the agenda!

Outside was a statue of Lincoln sitting on a bench and we took some time to pose with him:

 

I thought he was very
<-- professional about  -->
the whole thing.

Then back in the car to eat some melted Meiji Panda biscuits <3 and tour the Gettysburg National Cemetery and the battlefields.

The cemetery is where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address (for those of you who aren't really into history) and it had this sort of hushed, reverent feel about it that was eerily appropriate.




On a very heavy note: Did you know that nearly half of the Civil war burials were unknown soldiers? I thought that was so incredibly sad, because they weren't unknown to someone in the world.

This monument stands on the spot
where Lincoln delivered the
Gettysburg Address

After the Cemetery, we drove around the battlefields because none of us had the energy or gumption to walk anymore. Then we stopped at a local fruit stand for some peaches and plums before getting lost again on our way to the hotel in Clinton, MD.

(Just found out about the photo captioning option. Folks,
there will be some improvements on the next post!)

Thus ends the chronicle of our sojourning to D.C. On to Washington! After this...

Till next time!