Amish Country, Pittsburgh and Falling Water

    I got a little behind on my trip blogs so will try to get all caught up now!    

      Thursday morning and breakfast at DJs, still rockin' to the 60s! Then off to explore Amish Country...two towns nearby were Bird in Hand and Intercourse, both very ethnic in shops and homes.  We saw many horse and buggies...I tried to take a picture as we passed one, clicking away. Here is what I captured on camera!

Horse....

....and Buggy!  

     We had a great time investigating many of the little shops in the towns of Bird in Hand and Intercourse...both Amish communities.  We ate lunch at a fabulous deli with all kinds of authentic German/Amish food.  I wish we weren't flying home or I would have loaded the car with all kinds of delicasies!

Outside a fabric/gift shop

Half of my Reuben sandwich! Yum!

Just a small section of the deli!

     Then we drove on to Pittsburgh.  I didn't realize that Pittsburgh was so mountainous.  We drove through several tunnels as we were going through the Alleghenies in the Appalachian Mountain Range.

One of several pretty long tunnels.

    We didn't see too much of Pittsburgh itself. Our main reason for even going there was to see Falling Water, the fabulous home designed for the wealthy Kaufman family out of Pittsburgh in 1936-39. We opt for the two hour tour so we would have a smaller group, better information, and could take pictures!  It was well worth it!

On the road to Mill Run, the home of Falling Water

We got up at 5:00 Friday morning to snow!  Because our tour started at 8:45 and it was an hour and a half drive there. Since we didn't know for sure where we were going and didn't want to be late, we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time.  But we got there in plenty of time and were in the first group to leave the Visitor's Center to head up to the house.

An interior pic from the living room.  It was FLW goal to bring the outside in.  He used many natural materials and built the house into the side of the mountain, over a waterfall.

They had a fire going for us which really felt good!  The red vessel to the left was a container for mulled wine which they could swing over the fire to heat up.  The Kaufmann's entertained quite a bit.

Here is it swung over the fire.  Your can see the depression in the stone wall to accommodate the vessel.

The whole place is an art museum!  Tiffany lamps everywhere and original art works by Rivera, Picasso, Hokusai, and more. Also many ancient,  priceless  artifacts and statuary.

A pic taken from the guest house which was above the main house. The main house had three bedrooms; everything built in...beds, wardrobes, desks...and each room had its own bath and an outdoor balcony.

Wonderful use of natural wood in many furnishings!

One of FLW's free standing chairs.  You could buy a replica in the gift shop....for a price! 

A pic of the house as you approach it.

Falling Water from the grounds away from the house

After our wonderful tour, we were able to roam the grounds.  It is like living in a park!

Then we drove back to Pittsburgh, took the car to the airport to turn it in and had the hotel shuttle pick us up.

         Friday morning, we packed and had the shuttle run us out to the airport...once again the temperature was at 31-32 degrees and snowing!  We did get aboard the plane but had to sit for a bit so they could deice it!!  A first for me!  Eventually we did get off and were back in Texas by mid afternoon!  It was cooler than normal here...in the 60s...but definitely not freezing in April!