Its been almost 7 months since we came to US and got lost in work, meeting client deadlines...... Memorial Day weekend on May 29th was a much awaited long weekend. Our neighbor Gopi Krishna planned to visit Pittsburgh during this long weekend and called me to check if we have any plans, I didn’t want to turn him down.
We started our journey on May 29th, 2010 Saturday from Falls Church, VA at 6.30 am and reached Pittsburgh, PA around 10.30 am. Our first place of visit was “Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium”. It was a hot sunny day with temperature around 85 degree F (nearly 30 degree C). We had spent the past 6 months inside home or office with comfortable temperature or outside with a freezing temperature. We felt 85 degree F is too hot for us.
Its like any other zoo in US but one special attraction about this zoo is they have Polar Bear, atleast I haven't seen it till now in any other zoo. There were few penguins too which is another bird which I haven't seen earlier. Personally I didn't like some of the exhibits in Asian Forest section, where animals are at higher ground than visitors, its very difficult to see them. I was delighted when I came to know there is "Snow Leopard", but I saw only its ears and left paw :(
Our next visit was to "Hindu Jain Temple" at 615 Illini Drive Monroeville, PA 15146. We left zoo around 1pm and reached temple by 1.30pm. Its a beautiful temple built with red stone in early 1980s.
After having a good South Indian meal at Udupi Cafe, we started our journey towards "National Aviary". Its a kind of bird house, where there are lot of activities like feeding different kinds of birds, talks on wild life, making crafts, interactive encounters and bird releases.
Unlike the usual zoo where birds are kept in cages and people see them from outside, these places have set up artificial bird habitats and they fly freely (atleast in the enclosed area). The habitats look pretty much natural. Taking kids this close and having interaction with birds/animals will definitely create interest and love towards them. We couldn't spend much time here. Aviary closes at 5pm and we went there just before 4.30pm. We managed to spend some time at habitats like Grassland, Rainforest and Penguin enclosure.
From there we went to see downtown and booked tickets for Duck Tour. Its a amphibious vehicle which runs on road and swims on water and goes around downtown showing important buildings and places.
Another place worth visiting in downtown Pittsburgh is "Duquesne Incline" a cable car railway built in 1877 over Mt. Washington to carry goods/passengers. Its a steep hill near to downtown, the cable car is pulled uphill for nearly 800 feet long, around 400 feet in height and at an incline of 30 degree angle.
On top of the hill there is an observatory deck to view Pittsburgh downtown. Pittsburgh downtown also called as 'Golden Triangle' as it is formed by confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River whose joining forms the Ohio River.
Pittsburgh is even famous for bridges. All together, a total of 446 bridges are in the city of Pittsburgh, officially the city with the most bridges in the world, three more than former world leader Venice, Italy.
Next day, i.e. Sunday May 30th, 2010, we visited few temples, Sri Venkateshwara Temple at Penn Hill, Pittsburgh, PA and The Palace of Gold, Moundsville, WV (also called as New Vrindavan or commonly known as ISKCON).
Sri Venkateshwara Temple of Pittsburgh is one of the oldest and most famous Hindu temples in North America built in 1976. Its even referred as Tirupathi of America. http://www.svtemple.org/
We spent some time in temple and continued our journey towards Palace of Gold, as there were some speculations about the route and road condition. So we didn't know how much time it might take.
We drove till Wheeling, West Virginia and took a cab. Its around 6 miles from here, but road is narrow and winding. Moreover someone told GPS will not get proper signal and may not show route properly. We didn't want to take chance so took a cab. Usually it might cost around $50 one way and $15 per hour for waiting for one car. The route wasn't that difficult as I imagined, once we reach place called "Limestone Hill" anyone will tell how to reach Palace of Gold. Its like oneway and most of the people, especially if you see an Indian they will be going there. Cab driver told there was another way where we will come across many creeks, I was very interested to explore it but couldn't go there as were short of time and had to reach home that night.
Palace of Gold is dedicated to ISCKON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) founder Swami Prabhupada. It was started as a temple, but after Swami's death his followers decided to dedicate it as a memorial shrine with beautiful architecture and designs. Its really commendable because it was built by devotees who were untrained who has turned up this place so beautifully. http://www.palaceofgold.com/
Entry inside the palace is only through guided tour ($6 per head) which takes almost 30 minutes and is conducted in an interval of 1 hour or so. Photography is prohibited inside the shrine and no wonder if people think Hindus keep lot of wealth inside temple after seeing this Palace of Gold.
Next to the building is a Rose garden which has got so many awards...but I am not sure if it was so beautiful or may be we didn't see it properly. New Vrindavan or Radha Krishna temple is 1/4 mile from Palace of Gold. Its like any other ISKON temple around the world.
After finishing lunch at the temple cafeteria we started our journey back home to Virginia. We reached home just before sunset and sun sets around 8.30pm during summer in this part of the world.
