South Side Views of Pittsburgh

Lots of guide books recommend riding one of the incline trains on the south bank of the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh. We went to the Monongahela Incline, starting at the lower level. The train was built by German immigrants in the 1870s to make the trek up and down the hill much easier. The ascent is 635 feet, so that's a lot of stairs to climb. The incline was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and still operates today, though it is mostly a tourist attraction now.

The train on its way down

The ride is fairly smooth, going slowly for the first and last twenty feet and then reaching a speed of six miles an hour (so, not a whole lot faster). The views of downtown Pittsburgh from the top are amazing.

Monongahela and eastern Pittsburgh

Downtown

The downtown area comes to a point at the confluence of the three rivers. The Allegheny and the Monongahela unite to form the Ohio River, which winds its way off to Ohio in the west.

Bridges at the confluence

Another view of downtown

A cruise ship on the Monongahela

The many less famous bridges of Pittsburgh

While we were on the heights, we had some ice cream at a local place. I tried the cherry vanilla, which was delicious, though it was my third choice. My kids scooped the number one and number two flavors I would have chosen.

More fun than the train ride?

Cherry vanilla

Enjoying churro-flavored scoop

Banana pie fan

Back by the station, we saw some classical-looking homes next to a much more modern home. How did that happen?

Some residences that have wonderful views

At the top station, I noticed their concrete welcome mat. 

No need to replace it

Can't quite see the car coming up

The ride down was swift and did not look as perilous as the trip up. 

View from inside the top

Station Square Shopping area

The other train coming up

The funicular has two tracks, both with trains. One goes up while the other goes down. They act as counter-weights, making the system use less power to move them up and down. This was a fun attraction and a great place to visit, with plenty of amazing views (and geocaches) at the top. 

Como, Italy

Our last adventure was a train trip to Como, Italy. The original train we booked was canceled, which was a problem since we had set up a boat tour starting at 9 a.m. After some panicked work at Milan's central train station, we had an alternate train that just barely made it. We took a taxi from the Como train station over to the docks, where we started our boat tour.

A view of the city from the water

The Black Pearl and driver

More of the city on the lake

The driver pointed out the Volta Museum, dedicated to Allesandro Volta, the inventor of the battery and Como citizen. The kids were happy because we visited on a Monday and the museum was closed. On the other side of the picture below is the town's World War II memorial. 

Volta and WWII honored

Leaving the city behind

The view north

Hotels along the lake

Construction still going on, a sign of vitality

More villas

Us on the boat

The guide pointed out a lot of the villas that are owned privately or are civic buildings that get used for weddings and film locations. 

Romantic view of the area

A little town with its church

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel is a high-end property that has its own dock, a pool in the lake, and an area for guests to sun themselves.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel

This house was originally built by a Russian aristocrat. It's only accessible by water or the elevator in the upper left of the photo. It's now owned by the head of Apple in France.

Russian Villa

More of the lake

Back by Como

More of the town

We really enjoyed the boat tour of the lake. Keeping up a vacation theme, we rode the funicular train up from Como to Brunate. It is a very popular attraction, though we did not have to wait too long to ride up.

Funicular Station in Como

The train

View from the Brunate station

View on the other side of the mountain

Enjoying the view

Not far from the station is the church of St. Andrew the Apostle. All the buildings up there are on the hillside, so there's always some stairs to climb or ramps to go up.

St. Andrew's

Nave

Main altar

Back of the church

Like most every other old church in Italy, the art is fantastic.

An unidentified saint

Trinity dome

Symbol of John the Evangelist over St. Joseph and toddler Jesus

Nativity fresco

Fake statue!

Saint in chains

We thought about going out to the lighthouse, but it was a half-hour hike and we were out of water. A jeep takes people over in ten minutes but the line was long to get on (and it was a little pricey). We headed back down the mountain.

Happy riders

View of Como

More of Como

Back in Como, we found a small beach and enjoyed the water a tiny bit.

Checking water temps

A swan nearby

The swan getting close

Back by the harbor

A last view of the lake

Como is a great place to visit.