Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, USA) Posted on: 15 October 2017 :: Photo Credits: Pradip Gatkine, Pranav Bende, Alankar Kotwal, Alap Kshirsagar, Rachit Aggarwal ::
Continued from: It's Falling - Road Trip in West Virginia, USA
Day 3: 9 October 2017 (Monday)
Location: Pittsburgh
Pradip and Rachit departed for their respective cities early in the morning. I and Pranav had decided to spend one more day in Pittsburgh and the ‘local boy’ Alankar was our tour-guide. Our short tour of Pittsburgh began with a visit to the Cathedral of learning. This 2nd tallest university building in the world, is the centrepiece of University of Pittsburgh.
After watching the panoramic views from top floor, we visited the Nationality rooms on the 1st and 3rd floor of the cathedral. These rooms were designed to depict different cultures that had an influence on Pittsburgh’s growth. We were taken aback by the spectacular ‘Indian Classroom’. It was modelled after India’s ancient University of ‘Nalanda’ and had some really ‘positive’ vibes!
Then we proceeded to Duquesne Incline, an inclined railroad scaling the Mt. Washington. A small bogie carried around 25 passengers up and down the incline. This ride was one of its kind (must visit in Pittsburgh!). The daytime views of Pittsburgh’s skyline from Mt. Washington were as stunning as the nightime ones!
Our last and most awaited location in Pittsburgh was The Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, the best robotics research facility in the world. It was like visiting ‘mecca’ for us robotics enthusiasts. At the entrance itself, there was a Roboceptionist named ‘Mr. Tank’. It was fun to interact with this robotic character who tended to give long, philosophical and funny answers to simple questions like ‘How’re you today?’. After visiting some of the labs, we saw the history of robotics at CMU in the Roboseum.
Before departing for Ithaca, we visited the Point State Park situated at the meeting point of three rivers: Allegheny, Mononghela and Ohio (Triveni Sangam). It was relaxing to walk along the river and reflect upon the experiences of this trip!
This wonderful trip truly recharged our batteries. Hopefully there will be many more of such trips during the grad life in US.