The Memorial Service Part 3: Touring the 'burgh

Saturday was our tour day. Mary's sister Anne graciously offered to be our tour guide and to take us to several interesting places in the Pittsburgh area. Yes, I grew up in the area but there are places that even I have not seen.

Claire, Marla and I started the day with a quick jog (I walked) on the Montour trail that runs by the Killmeyer house. http://www.theneonweb.com/trails/mtr1.html The quick excursion on the trail turned into a couple of hours for Marla and I and we were late returning to the house and confirmed to Anne who was waiting for us that people from Los Angeles are slothful and indolent.




First Anne and her friend Phill took Claire, Laura, Marla and I to Permani's, a local sandwich shop for a unique Pittsburgh construct which stacks the sandwich with everything you've ordered including the fries, adds an egg to the masterpiece and puts it between two pieces of bread. You can guess that I passed opportunity and just had a chicken sandwich. I guess I am no longer a native Pittsburgher.

Then we were ready to head to Pittsburgh.









First stop was 'the bluff' which overlooks Pittsburgh. I don't remember being there before but Mary said later that I had been, just not in the daylight and probably didn't recognize it in the light of day. I don't know what she would be talking about.
This is the intrepid group of tourists and the native guides on the bluff with the steel city in the background.


Next we went to Oakland to the scene of many of my crimes from my youth. I had never been inside the Soldiers and Sailors memorial hall in all the time that I lived in Pittsburgh. Anne knew that there is a museum inside and also knew that I would like to see it so off we went.

Once we were inside I noticed that there are bronze regimental plaques for each of the Pennsylvania units that served in the Civil War. Knowing that my great uncle Thomas Vogeley served in the 74th PA Volunteer Infantry I kept my eyes open and sure enough found the regimental plaque

And there he is! CPL Thomas Vogeley, veteran of the Civil War who fought at Gettysburg. Some day I will contact the National Archives to get his service record. It is interesting that Thomas and my Dad were both Corporals separated by 80 years. This is the time to point out that Marla and Kurt are 5th generation Vogeley citizen soldiers:

Thomas, Civil war; Howard, WW1; Dad, WW2, Ed, Vietnam era; me, cold war era (same generation); Marla and Kurt post 911 war on terror.

Now it was time to go to the Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh. We rode the creaking, shaking elevator to the top of the building for the view (yet another place I had never been to) and saw some of the nationality rooms. We saw the commons room where I used to meet Mary between classes. It was all very nostalgic for me. Anne's sons also attended Pitt so she also enjoyed reminiscing about visiting the school.

Phill got us all back to the Killmeyer compound in time to make evening mass. We had a great time touring around and Anne and Phill were great guides. My girls really seemed to enjoy seeing the sights that meant so much to me from my younger days. Thanks Anne, thanks Phill!