Pre-Convention Tour Sunday
A tour overview meeting will be held on Saturday Night at 8pm at the hotel. Meeting room TBA.
The Alfa Romeo Club Pre-Convention Tour for 2019 will be based out of the host hotel, the Doubletree Hilton in Cranberry Twp, PA. Each morning we will depart from the Doubletree Hilton host hotel and return that evening to the Doubletree Hilton in Cranberry Twp, PA. This will permit you to unpack your luggage once and enable you to spend more of your day enjoying the the many tourist activities in and around Western Pennsylvania and the Tri-State area.
The Alfa Romeo Club Pre-Convention Tour for 2019 will be based out of the host hotel, the Doubletree Hilton in Cranberry Twp, PA. Each morning we will depart from the Doubletree Hilton host hotel and return that evening to the Doubletree Hilton in Cranberry Twp, PA. This will permit you to unpack your luggage once and enable you to spend more of your day enjoying the the many tourist activities in and around Western Pennsylvania and the Tri-State area.
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Our plans today take us through North Park and the Fox Chapel area of Pittsburgh. You'll travel right through the middle of the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium and start your day with a tour of Phipps Conservatory. You'll walk across the street, which will be a race track in one short week, to the Schenley Park Visitors Center and enjoy some amazing food while learning about the History of the Park System in Pittsburgh before jumping into your cars for a lap of the iconic Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix Race Track.
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Sunday Schedule
A tour overview meeting will be held on Saturday Night at 8pm at the hotel.
- 8am - 9:30am Tour Departs Doubletree Hilton to Phipps Conservatory
- 10:00am - 11:30am Tour of Phipps Conservatory
- 12:00am - 1:30pm Lunch at Schenley Park Café and Visitor Center
- 1:30pm - 2:30Pm Driving Tour around Pittsburgh
- 3:00pm - 5pm The National Aviary
- 5:30pm - Cocktails at Vue 412
- 6:00pm - 9pm Dinner at Vue 412
Sunday, July 14, 2019
A tour overview meeting will be held on Saturday Night at 8pm at the hotel. Meeting room TBA.
8:30am Tour Departs Doubletree Hilton
8:30am Tour Departs Doubletree Hilton
Tour Groups departs in groups of 5 cars and travel two lanes roads through historic North Park, which is the largest county park & consists of over 3,000 acres of winding wooded trails, a 75–acre lake with a stunning boathouse built in 1934, and a variety of sporting facilities.
You then pick out the Green Belt through the community of Fox Chapel until your cross the Highland Park Bridge. You will then wind your way through the middle of the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium and Highland Park Reservoir until your reach Negley Ave that takes you through a sampling of City Neighborhoods. |
Click Here for maps & directions from Doubletree Hilton to Phipps Conservatory
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10:00 am Tour of Phipps Conservatory
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Opened in 1893, the historic landmark is just a few miles from downtown Pittsburgh in Schenley Park.
We will explore the beauty and wonders of nature at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, encompassing 15 acres including a 14-room glasshouse and 23 distinct gardens. Experience industry-leading sustainable architecture and green practices, stunning seasonal flower shows, exclusive commissioned exhibits, renowned orchid and bonsai collections and more. |
From Phipps its a short walk to
This entire area is unique to Pittsburgh and is some of the prime tourist things to see while you are here. All Registered Pre Convention Tour participants have paid reservations for the Phipps tour. |
12:00 am - 1:30 pm Lunch at Schenley Park Café and Visitor Center
Susan Rademacher, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Curator, will be doing a special presentation while you enjoy lunch at the historic landmark visitors center.
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Originally used as a picnic shelter, the Schenley Park Café and Visitor Center building was designed and built between 1903 and 1904 by Pittsburgh architectural firm of Rutan and Russell (other work by the firm includes the University of Pittsburgh’s William Pitt Union, formerly the Schenley Hotel). Two similar shelters that no longer exist were built around the same time but were torn down over the years. The Visitor Center is one of the few surviving buildings from the early days of park construction.
In its over 100 years in the park, the building has served as a concession stand for Phipps Conservatory, a tool shed in the 1930s, a workspace for the Pittsburgh Civic Garden Club, a nature museum housing snakes and other park creatures, and an office for workers conducting park repairs. Prior to the Parks Conservancy’s restoration project in 2001, the building had been closed to the public since the late 1980s. |
1:30pm - 2:30pm- City Driving Tour
Click here for a map from Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens here to Grandview Overlook, West End Overlook at National Aviary
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12:30pm - 1:15pm The next leg of the driving tour departs Phipps and puts you directly on the PVGP Race Course. You'll be entering at Turn 8 at the Visitors Center where you had lunch and will pass through the remaining 20 turns of the track, cross the Start Finish and exit off of what will be Turn 4 of the race track.
You'll sneak through some back roads and cross the river and have a spirited drive along the river until you drive into the historic South Side Strip on Carson Street. You'll then wind your way up Sycamore Street, past one of the scenic locations of the 1993 movie Striking Distance with Bruce Willis and finishing at the scenic overlooks on Grandview Avenue. Then it's down the other side of the Mount as we wind our way to the West End Overlook for some time stretch your legs before we ehad back across the river to the National Aviary. |
3:00 - 5pm The National Aviary
The National Aviary is the only independent indoor nonprofit aviary in the United States.
It is also the country's largest aviary, and the only one accorded honorary "National" status by the United States Congress. The aviary is home to over 600 birds representing more than 200 species. It was built by the city in 1952 on the site of the original Phipps Conservatory and consisting at first of a single structure of 3,640 square feet. In 1967 an expansion that included the "wetlands room" increased space to 25,000 square feet |
Click here for a map from the National Aviary to View 412
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It's just a short 15 minute drive back up to the top of Mount Washington but be prepared for a Hill Climb. Sycamore was steep, this is a bit steeper.
When we reach Grandview Avenue you'll be treated some great city views. You'll want to make the right on Oneida Street and left into the parking lot. After you park, walk over and check out the Duquesne Incline and take a trip if you would like.
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Vue 412
Dinner banquet Menu After parking in the public parking lot accross the street check out the Duquesne Incline and museum. You may event want to hop on the incline for a ride up and down the side of Mt Washington. Vue 412 is run by Pittsburghers. You're going to enjoy some magnificent views and be treated to some wonderful food with a bit of Pittsburgher ambiance. Don't be afraid to ask your servers about what you are looking at, you'll be treated with some wonderful answers. |
Getting back to the hotel is quite easy. It's a left out of the parking lot, a quick right onto Grandview Avenue until you hit the first and only red light where you make a left down PJ McArdle Roadway. At the light at the bottom make a left and stay on the I-279 to I-79 and exit to US 19 North into Cranberry.
Click here for directions from Vue 412 to the Doubletree Hilton.
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This page last edited: July 13, 2019