Travels in the 2nd half

Downtown Pittsburgh from the North Side Some might ask “Why visit Pittsburgh in February?” Yes, it was cold, cold enough that a trip to Point State Park was ill advised. But Pittsburgh has a lot of indoor attractions. So, with a few free days on my hands, I drove across the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania to return to a city I had not seen in over a decade. Bessamer Fountain at Station Square - by Andrevan via Wikimedia Commons I made the Sheraton Hotel at Station Square my base. Station Square is a shopping, dining and entertainment complex located along the southern shore of the Monongahela River, across from downtown Pittsburgh. The complex includes five buildings from the historic Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad station, refurbishing them into an area that draws people throughout the day for food and entertainment. Station Square sits at the foot of the cliffs that line the Monongahela River, and you can ride the Monongahela or Duquesne incline funiculars...

Degas and Doppelganger When the Whitney Museum moved to its beautiful new home in lower Manhattan, back in 2014, the Metropolitan Museum of Art leased its former home on Madison Ave. Renamed the Met Breuer , in honor of the building’s architect Marcel Breuer , the new Galleries have been home to some major exhibitions of modern art. Some of these have been instillations dedicated to particular artists, but two in particular have utilized the Met’s extensive permanent collection. In 2016 the museum staged “Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible.” This exhibit featured pieces of art that were literally incomplete, either purposefully or due to the incidents such as the death of the artist. The museum explored the question – “When is a work of art finished?” The pieces exhibited were all from the Met’s permanent collection. The exhibit reminded me of the story about Cézanne. He was known to show up at exhibitions of his work, pull out a set of paints, and continue working on pieces...