Pittsburgh PA

The heat has been unbelievable. Even the locals have been complaining, so of course it makes perfect  sense to spend one of the hottest evenings sitting in a baseball stadium. We had been invited to a tailgate before the game. It is basically a BBQ in a car park. The best thing about it was discovering the cooling property of ice down your bra! The game was exciting and the Pirates won. People are passionate about the game, it still looked like rounders to me, but any game is rather silly when you break it down.

After the heat came the rain. By rain , I mean it came down by the bucketload. You got soaked to the skin in seconds, but once it stops you soon dry off. We spent one wet day at the Phipps Consevatory . It is a big botanic garden mostly under glass. It was almost as wet indoors as it was outside. They were running a Van Gough exhibition which was interesting.

On the outskirts of the city is an historic site called Old Economy Village.  It is where the most successful Lutheran sect from Germany finally settled. They came to wait for the Second Coming, but in the meantime set themselves up to be as independent as possible. They were known as the Harmony Society. You gave over everything you had when you joined and promised to work for the good of all the members. In return the society would house, feed, clothe and look after your health. They set up cotton mills and were rebound for the cloth they made.There are fascinating dye sample books in the museum which I would have loved to have a proper look at. They also made wine and spirits which the did drink some themselves, the rest they sold. In fact they were very good at making money. If you decided to leave the society, you were given back what you came with. They lived in brick built houses and had access to education for both the mind and the soul. The society had the first orchestra in the USA. Communal feats were held a number of times during the year. When the
founder George Rapp died, a huge sum of gold was found in his basement, in fact there was more
gold than in the government reserve. The society eventually died out in the early 1900s. The last  two members wound up the society and left with over $75 million. The village is very well worth a visit if you are in the area. The history is fascinating and the buildings well preserved. Some of the original houses are still lived in by modern families.