and a wander round the South Hills shopping mall followed by a ‘T’ (Pittsburgh’s tram system) trip back to downtown and dinner at the Grandview!!! The trip to the Penguin’s practice and my encounter with a personal hero are covered in more detail in The Day I Met Mario and Meeting The Pens sections of this feature. The rest of the week was basically taken up with shopping during the daytime, both downtown and at the Station Square complex, and attending the games in the evening. Apart from, that is, the Thursday evening where, to thank them for their guided tour on the Sunday we met up again with our friends for dinner and an unplanned 10:30 pm trip round Wal-Mart in Washington, Pennsylvania - again, Thanks Guys!!! And then, before we knew it, and just as we were getting settled, it was Friday night and we were at our final game on our final night in Pittsburgh. We had done most of our packing that afternoon so that on the Saturday we could get up, get ready and leave for the airport with no mad panic ensuing. Our time in Pittsburgh was coming to an end but not without one last sting in the tail!!! The flight from Pittsburgh to Newark was cancelled about 90 minutes before we were due to board and we were moved up onto the next flight. But, this would mean we would miss our connection in Newark to Paris and then from there back home to Manchester. So, they changed us to a direct flight from Newark to Manchester that was due to arrive about ten minutes before the flight we should have been on - Excellent!!! Except, the flight to Newark was then delayed so much that we got off the plane at gate 130 with, literally, 5 minutes to get to gate 76 and board the flight to Manchester. One breathless, panicked, mad dash across Newark airport in a winter coat later we just managed to catch the connection home...... Although the trip started and ended badly the time I spent in Pittsburgh was, and always will be, one of the best weeks of my life and the people we met (Hey Denise and Mel K!!) were brilliant. Please check out the rest of the feature via the links at the foot of each page!!! I can’t wait to get back there..... until then though, I’d like to leave you with two of the most precious memories I have of the week; the first, one of my favourite views in the world, the second, our ‘kindred spirits’ from Pennsylvania..... PD - 11/4/2001 |