|
|
 |
Pittsburgh – the Cultural Side of the Steel City October 18 – 23, 2011 |
| A very special, very interesting tour arranged for The Volunteers' Circle of The National Gallery of Canada |
 |
|||
Your Executive Worldwide Travel Tour Itinerary | |||||
 |
|||||
|
Begin this delightful mix of diversions with lunch at Sheldrake Winery and tours of the
Cornell University Gallery and Sage Chapel. See the Corning Glass Museum. Visit Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art, the Cathedral of Learning, the beautiful Heinz Memorial Chapel, Phipps Conservatory, and a private art collection at the Duquesne Club. Tour Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob as well as the Andy Warhol and Frick Museums and Clayton House. Dinner at Harvard Yale Princeton Club. |
|||||
|
|
|||||
|
Tuesday, October 18 Early morning departure from the National Gallery of Canada heading for Ithaca, located in the lovely Finger Lakes area. Lunch on the way at Simply Red Village Bistro at Sheldrake Point Vineyard, located on Cayuga Lake. “Our waterfront location, manicured gardens, attractive facilities, picnic areas, vineyards, and estate wine production form the basis of our ability to emphasize the pleasurable and unpretentious connection among people, the land, wine, food and fun.” |
 
|
||
| |||
    |
After lunch, transfer to Ithaca, New York, for afternoon tours on the
campus of Cornell University. Visit the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, perhaps best known for its controversial concrete façade. The Johnson Museum has one of the finest collections of art in Upstate New York and is recognized as one of the most important university museums in the country. Spanning the history of art, the Museum's collections are especially strong in Asian art, nineteenth- and twentieth-century American art, and the graphic arts. The permanent collection consists of more than 30,000 works of art. Most notable is the George and Mary Rockwell Asian Art collection. There are also extensive holdings of American artists, including Stuart Davis and Robert Rauschenberg. Continue on to Sage Chapel for a guided tour. President A.D. White and founder Ezra Cornell conceived Sage Chapel as a place of Christian worship. This conception is reflected in its architecture and much of its interior symbolism. However, White and Cornell insisted, "that the chapel would never be delivered over to any one sect" and "that students should be attracted but never coerced into it." This philosophy encouraged the invitation of preachers not only from various Christian denominations but also diverse faiths, as remains the case today. Following the tours, transfer to the Statler Hotel of Cornell University, known for its outstanding accommodations, international cuisine, and breathtaking views of Ithaca and Cayuga Lake. Rising from the center of this Ivy League campus, the Statler is your gateway to the university and the surrounding Finger Lakes region. Dinner on your own. Overnight at the Statler Hotel. L | |||
| ||||
|
Wednesday, October 19 Breakfast at the hotel and check out. Transfer to the Corning Glass Museum for a guided tour. The Corning Museum of Glass, in Corning, New York, explores every facet of glass, including art, history, culture, science and technology, craft, and design. The Museum is home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of glass – more than 45,000 glass objects, spanning 3,500 years of glassmaking history. Visitors can also explore the science and technology of glass in a hands-on exhibit area, see live narrated glassmaking demonstrations and try their hand at glassworking in short daily workshops. |
 |
|||
| ||||
|
Lunch on your own before transferring to Pittsburgh. Check into the historic Renaissance Hotel, our home for the next four nights. Exuding the timeless elegance of downtown old-world charm, this chic Pittsburgh, PA hotel is housed in the classic Fulton Building, conveniently positioned among five acclaimed theaters and centrally located near Heinz Field, famed PNC Park, Mellon Arena and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Welcome Dinner and overnight at the hotel. BD |
  |
|||
|
| ||||
 
|
Thursday, October 20 Following breakfast at hotel, explore the highlights of this remarkable city with a guided introductory tour. Transfer to the Carnegie Museum of Art for a guided tour. The Carnegie Museum of Art offers a superb collection of American and European art from the late 19th century to the present day - French Impressionist, American Expressionism, drawings and watercolours. Arranged in chronological order, fine art is interspersed with decorative arts, furniture, silverware and ceramics to show the complete picture of a creative period. The Heinz Architectural Center, opened as part of the Museum in 1993, is dedicated to the collection, study, and exhibition of architectural drawings and models. The Hall of Architecture contains the largest collection of plaster casts of architectural masterpieces in America and one of the three largest in the world. The marble Hall of Sculpture replicates the interior of the Parthenon. Lunch on your own. |
||
| |||
|
After lunch, a tour of the Phipps Conservatory. Commissioned as a
gift to his city in 1893 by steel baron Henry Phipps, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical
Gardens is one of the oldest and largest Victorian "glass houses" in the U.S. Silvered domes of glass enclose 13 garden rooms brimming with thousands of exotic plants and flowers. The 2.5 acres around Phipps continue the experience, filled with lush gardens, peaceful ponds and sparkling fountains. Highlights include the Palm Court with its garden railroad display, plus the Orchid Room, Desert Room, children's Discovery Garden, outdoor lily ponds and rose garden, and one of the premier collections of bonsai in the U.S. Transfer to the University of Pittsburgh’s Cathedral of Learning for a guided tour. The Cathedral of Learning, a historic landmark, is the second-tallest education building in the world - 42 stories and 535 feet tall. It is also the geographic and traditional heart of the campus. The "lobby" comprising the first through third floors contains a massive gothic "Commons Room" that is used as a general study area and for special events and is ringed by three floors of classrooms including, on the first and third floors, the 27 Nationality Rooms designed by members of the Pittsburgh community in the styles of different nations and ethnic groups. Continue our exploration of the University with a guided tour of Heinz Memorial Chapel, a masterful example of Neo-Gothic architecture, echoing lines of the Indiana limestone of its slightly older sister, the Cathedral of Learning. A gift from Henry John Heinz to honor his mother, Anna Margaretta Heinz, the interdenominational chapel, with its modified cruciform plan, stone vaults, high ceilings, repeated arches and extensive use of glass, was designed by Charles Z. Klauder of Philadelphia. The transept windows, designed by Western Pennsylvania native, Charles J. Connick, were installed in sets of two with the panels separated equally into male and female pictorial figures depicting events and beliefs that have shaped the world. The panels include figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Pocahontas, Galileo, Clara Barton, and many more. Continue our exploration of Pittsburgh with a guided tour of the private art collection at the Duquesne Club. Founded in 1873, the Duquesne Club has evolved from a fraternity of prominent industrialists, including Carnegie, Frick, the Olivers and the Mellons, into America’s preeminent and most respected private city club. Afternoon tea will be served following the tour. Transfer back to the hotel. Dinner on your own. An optional performance will be offered this evening. BT |
       |
||
| |||
   |
Friday, October 21 Following breakfast at hotel, transfer to the Laurel Highlands for a guided tour of Fallingwater, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's most widely acclaimed works, designed in 1936 for the family of Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar J. Kaufmann. The key to the setting of the house is the waterfall over which it is built. The falls had been a focal point of the Kaufmann family activities, and they had indicated the area around the falls as the location for a home. Wright suggested that the house rise over the waterfall, rather than face it, and the family agreed. Lunch & tour of the art of Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, a luxury resort set amidst 2,800 acres of stunning woodland. 
|
||
| |||
|
Transfer to Kentuck Knob for a guided tour of this excellent example of a high-end
Usonian home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the I.N. Hagan family of Uniontown,
Pennsylvania, in 1953. The home, situated just below the crest of the hill, appears
almost part of the mountain itself. To the east, just steps beyond the back terrace,
stretches a breathtaking panorama of the Youghiogheny River Gorge and the mountains
that surround it. A sculpture garden accents the house. Return to our hotel in Pittsburgh. Dinner on your own and an evening at leisure. BL |
  |
||
| |||
  |
Saturday, October 22 After breakfast at the hotel, depart for guided tours at the Andy Warhol Museum, the largest museum in the world dedicated to one artist, and the Frick Historical Centre. While dedicated to the pop-art original Andy Warhol, the Warhol museum also hosts many exhibits by artists who push the boundaries of art, just as Warhol did. Lunch on your own, followed by a guided tour of Clayton Mansion, culminating in a VIP wine reception. The Center, located on five acres of lawn and gardens in Point Breeze, focuses on the interpretation of the life and times of Henry Clay Frick, industrialist and art collector. The complex includes Clayton, one of the best-preserved Gilded Age estates in the United States; The Frick Art Museum; The Car and Carriage Museum; the Greenhouse; the Frick children's playhouse; and The Café. |
||
| |||
|
Transfer back to the hotel with free time before our Farewell Dinner
at the Harvard Yale Princeton Club at the corner of William Penn Place
and Strawberry Way. A row of six narrow three-story houses were joined and remodeled into a Colonial-style clubhouse in the 1930s. BD Sunday, October 23 Following breakfast at the hotel, check out and transfer to Ottawa, with a stop for lunch in the heart of Niagara wine country at the Wellington Court Restaurant in St. Catherines, Ontario. BL |
 |
||
| |||
|
Travel Agency: Executive Worldwide Travel Agent: Jean Sheikh, C.T.C. (613) 236-5555 Or 1-800-267-5552 Registration No.: 1892605 Coordinators: Sally Hutchison Peter Clark |
For more details on this tour or to request a brochure, | ||||
Back to Tours |