We Like Conspiracy Theories

Patrick really likes history. And conspiracy theories.

The other day, he was telling me about the Toynbee tiles, which are embedded in city streets across the US and South America.  They started popping up in the 1980s, and people have all sorts of crazy conspiracy theories to explain the tiles and their strange messages.  (Here's Wikipedia's take on the tiles.)

So we went looking for a little bit of the conspiracy in dahntahn Pittsburgh, and this is what we found...

Partial instructions on how to make more tiles.

"You must work for the destruction of media and its thousands of fronts!"

After we were done conspiracy-theory-ing, we headed over to the Point.

This one is so Pittsburgh.

Walking Through The Night

Sometimes, I actually go outside and do things.  For example, my parents came in for the weekend and so we made like tourists and wandered around the city.  At night.  Which made it ten times more beautiful.

The Incline Lights

Also, it was really windy and really cold.  But what did you expect?  When the Brindleys come, they bring the bad weather with them.
Seriously, look it up.  It's practically an urban legend.

Militants and Mariners

There's a Soldiers and Sailors Memorial right across the street from us, so I went there to take photos with Matt and Angela.  The memorial's a little green oasis in the middle of the city, and I like to just walk around on the mini walls and imagine how awesome it'd be if I could do parkour.  Then Matt told us about trying to parkour and face planting instead, and I decided maybe I'm fine being a normal non-parkourer.  So I took photos instead.

  

The Art of the Artist

When museums are free, I can't not go.  So this weekend, I went with Olivia and Briggs to the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History.  Though let's be honest, for all I care it's just the Carnegie Museum of Art.  Natural History? Ain't nobody got time for that.

I brought my camera, but it was a little weird artistically interpreting other people's artistic interpretations.  But this is what I got...

A Cathedral of Another Name

Yesterday, I went with Olivia and Ruhee to the cathedral down the street.  Not the Cathedral of Learning, but an actual cathedral called St. Paul's.  The building is absolutely stunning and incredibly peaceful.  A kind and talkative priest told us a little of the cathedral's history.  The same church, in a different building, used to be in downtown Pittsburgh, at the top of a hill with a road running right in front.  It was a prime location until the city decided that they wanted the road to be flat, and the cathedral was left sitting at least 20 feet higher than the street in front of it.  The Bishop decided that wasn't okay, sued the city for the inconvenience, sold the church for $1.3 mil (in 1900!), and moved to Oakland.

This is where he moved his church to.  Not such a bad place to end up, if you ask me.

The iron decoration on the door fronts.

Lobster Rolls, Hot Dogs, and Chowda

When we first moved to CT, my dad and I took a day trip to the shore and went to Guilford.  Ever since then, I've absolutely adored that little town, with its boutiques, seafood, and literal town square.  The first time I was there, though, the coastline was suffering from the aftermath of a hurricane, and the photos I got were mostly of the destruction.  We took a trip down to the coast again a few days ago, but this time I got some pretty photos instead of sad ones.

Oh, and we ate dinner at a seaside restaurant called Guilford Mooring.  My dad knocked a glass of water over, but besides that it was fabulous.

The Orchard Tree's Broken Mailbox

This week is a special edition of The Vagabond's Camera called "Andrew and Emily Drive Around and Take Random Photos."  It'd be a great movie title, don't ya think?

Here's how it went down: Andrew drove his little CRV and I sat in the passenger seat constantly changing the radio station between country and pop.  Every time I saw something interesting, I'd stop mid-sentence and yell "Tractor!" or "Orchard!"  It was a good time.  There's a few more photos than I normally post; who knew this little town was so photogenic?

It was fun, Lavender Gooms!