Anyone here from Pittsburgh?
Posted: 8/10/14 at 5:39pm
Posted: 8/10/14 at 5:51pm
Posted: 8/10/14 at 6:04pm
Posted: 8/10/14 at 6:24pm
There's nothing to do downtown.
The Phipps Conservatory is worth seeing, and is near the Warhol Museum, across the bridge.
Also make sure to do a trip up the incline around dusk, it's a beautiful view.
See whats on at the Pittsburgh CLO, The Pittsburgh Public Theatre, or Carnegie Mellon (depending on the time of year).
Are you sure you want to take the train? I know it's fun riding the train but getting to Pittsburgh from New York is kind of a pain in the rear. Any train you take you have to connect go through Philadelphia, making it about a 9 hour trip.
Posted: 8/10/14 at 6:25pm
Updated On: 8/10/14 at 06:25 PM
Posted: 8/10/14 at 6:33pm
Despite the legends from the 60s, Pittsburgh has been cleaned up and is one of the most beautiful cities in the country.
The Andy Warhol museum is a revelation. When I was there they had his work displayed in chronological order (as does the Van Gogh museum in the Netherlands) which offered a view of the artist much deeper than anything one can gain from the hype.
And why no love for the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History? I don't think you'll find better museums outside of NY, Chicago or Boston.
The Pittsburgh Zoo is a lovely zoo, but, in the end, a zoo is a zoo. If live animals are your passion, by all means go. Otherwise, you can find equivalents in the Bronx, San Diego and elsewhere. (The zoo is quite large and may take up your entire day.)
Posted: 8/10/14 at 6:39pm
The only zoo I've been to in my life I didn't hate was the one in Sydney. And I didn't enjoy it all that much either.
I second the suggestion for the museum. Its a great place.
Posted: 8/10/14 at 6:39pm

It seems like you are trying to do a quick in/out visit, but I want to point out that--as the hard-core New Yorker that I know you are--a trip to Pittsburgh is likely to be the closest you'll find yourself to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater.
I can't recommend a trip to Fallingwater highly enough. As iconic as the images of the house are, being there is really extraordinary. It's about an hour southeast of Pburgh; I would think you could sign up for a r/t bus excursion.
Posted: 8/10/14 at 6:43pm
It is truly one of the most beautiful homes in the U.S. Of course the big attraction is the cantilever over the water fall, but the house itself is full of exquisite 1930s details.
If you are going in Fall, you get an extra bonus: the beautiful changing leaves.
Posted: 8/10/14 at 6:49pm

And in the spring the perfume of the wild Rhododendrons is almost overwhelming. It's really a magical place.
That Edgar Kaufmann--oy, what a catch!!
Posted: 8/10/14 at 7:00pm
I joke, but this is very true. Very beautiful, lots to see and do in the city, as well as surrounding areas.
Posted: 8/10/14 at 7:11pm
Hmm, guess I'm not going on that trip.
Posted: 8/10/14 at 7:38pm
Agree that Fallingwater is pretty spectacular.
I like the zoo a lot (not near Warhol or Amtrak). Not so many cages - more open areas. But if you are not a zoo person, it probably doesn't matter.
Agree Gaveston about the Carnegie museums. Carnegie museums and Phipps are in an area of Pgh called Oakland where Univ of Pgh and Carnegie Mellon are. If you would end up there, would recommend the Nationality rooms in the Cathedral of learning, which is one of the Pitt buildings ( I know - pretty pretentious sounding, but it's been there since the 20s and called that.)
The aviary is a good visit too.
I've never taken amtrak from Pgh, so I can't speak to that. I drive which takes 6 to 7 hours depending on traffic - including traffic in midtown.
Posted: 8/10/14 at 8:51pm
Anyway, I'm not going there. Trying to figure out a different day trip that would only be an hour by train.
Posted: 8/10/14 at 10:36pm

The New York Botanical Garden is glorious.
They have a show running now about the way women found their way into landscape design--a man's field--via garden photography. The exhibit documents the lives and work of the pioneering women in American landscape design and photography.
And then there are the magnificent gardens through which you can wander for days.
I'm thinking it will take you about an hour to get there from the West Village.
Groundbreakers
Updated On: 8/10/14 at 10:36 PM
Posted: 8/10/14 at 10:54pm
I need to get out of town. I'll think of something!
Posted: 8/10/14 at 11:00pm
Posted: 8/10/14 at 11:19pm
Posted: 8/11/14 at 2:01am
Posted: 8/11/14 at 8:48am
Posted: 8/11/14 at 9:53am
Have you visited the Dia Museum in Beacon or Boscobel House and Gardens in Garrison? Both are easy, close train trips from NYC (on Metro North, I believe), and I think there are even train/venue packages for each.
Posted: 8/11/14 at 10:09am
Posted: 8/11/14 at 10:55am
Posted: 8/11/14 at 11:16am

If you're wandering the Hudson Valley, don't miss Storm King sculpture park.
There's also:
Sunnyside--a beautiful Greek Revival house and home to Washington Irving
Kyukkit (Mis-spelled) the Rockefeller estate
Lyndhurst--Jay Gould's Gothic revival mansion (pictured above)
Hyde Park--the Roosevelt house
Storm King is really great, though.
Storm King website
Updated On: 8/11/14 at 11:16 AM
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