Funiculi Funicula!

Which way are the tracks going in this photo? Are they level, or going uphill, or going downhill from the viewpoint of the photographer (me)? When I first looked at this photo on my computer my stomach leapt just a little bit because I knew how steep this incline is. But I soon began to be able to see the tracks in any of those three orientations and I enjoy the ambiguity of the photo. I cropped it to maximize the illusion. The uncropped photo appears below and has a clue in it. When you get to that photo, do you know what the clue is?

Uncropped version:

The clue: those yellow bricks are laid parallel to the floor of the station, which means that level is parallel to the direction of the long lines through the bricks.

As for the title of this blog entry, I know very little Italian that isn't found on a restaurant menu, so I had no particular reason to think that the song "Funiculi Funicula" had anything to do with a funicular (which in case you don't know is a sort of a cross between a cable car and an elevator that goes up a steep hillside or mountain while maintaining the floor of its carriage parallel to the ground). That song has been going through my head from time to time since starting to anticipate riding the funicular on the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh. So here it is in case you're not familiar with the song or in case you just like hearing Pavarotti sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOqr9wWxxF8 or perhaps you prefer Andrea Bocelli: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG4SbelgIFk Either way, the song was written in 1880 to commemorate the opening of the funicular on Mount Vesuvias. The first ever funicular was built in 1862, so it was still fairly new technology at the time. Lyrics to the chorus are simple. Here they are translated into English: Let's go, let's go! To the top we'll go! Let's go, let's go! To the top we'll go! Funiculi, funicula, funiculi, funicula! To the top we'll go, funiculi, funicula!

I was curious about the Mount Vesuvias funicular, in particular whether it still exists. The short answer is no. The slightly longer answer is that eruptions of the volcano have taken it out a few times and it's been rebuilt a few times, but there hasn't been an operational one since the 1940's. They started a project for a new one in the 1990's, but it was never completed. They did unearth a coach from the 1909 version while excavating in the 1990's. If you want to read all the details, I got that information here: https://www.vesuvioinrete.it/funicolare/e_funicolare_storia.htm

Parking for the Pittsburgh funicular is located across the street and downhill from the station. To keep pedestrians safe and traffic flowing, there's an overhead crosswalk to get to the funicular. If you don't do stairs, you won't be riding this ride. Not all of the stairs from the parking lot to the station are shown here. It's a total of 3 or maybe 4 stories up from the parking lot.

From the ground, the tracks appear to be mounted directly on the hillside. However, once inside the carriage and moving, it's clear that the tracks are suspended above the hillside and the whole creaky, jiggly ascent is a bit of a nail biter for this acrophobe.  The trip back down is much more pleasant because it glides with the aid of gravity. On the way up you can feel the effort of every turn of the gear that pulls the cable, and both hear and feel the tracks creak with the weight of the carriage. The two carriages are counter-balanced, so they take off at the same time, one moving down and the other moving up, passing each other midway. The view at the top is breathtaking, and shows the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers that join to form the Ohio River:

That particular photo highlights several of the bridges and Point Crown Park (which I tried to go to, but I found driving and parking my van nearby to be nearly impossible). The photo looks so perfect that I might mistake it for one that I swiped from an official website, but I took it myself. Here's the broader view:https://youtu.be/9-FJM4WK-1s

I especially wanted to visit this spot because the Ohio River has loomed large in my life, particularly during the times in my life when I lived only a few blocks from its banks. Tales of its flooding are family lore and trips across are frequent for those who live in the area. I've seen where it joins the Mississippi River, and seen it at other points along the way (Paducah, Evansville, Louisville, Wheeling to name a few). I've flown in commercial planes that followed it for quite a stretch when traveling between Louisville and Dallas, picking out familiar sights along the way and flying over Tell City more than once. Shortly before leaving on this trip I saw the jet and contrail of a flight going right over Tell City and was reminded of my own trips on that route.

I thought that with this trip I would have seen both the beginning (the river confluence that I mentioned before) and end (at the Mississippi). However, now as I'm writing this, I see that according to Wikipedia, native americans viewed the Allegheny and Ohio rivers as one continuous river, and the Monongahela as a tributary. That makes me wonder whether it would be worthwhile to visit the source of the Allegheny River, or as close to it as I can get. On the map it looks rather remote, so it may never make it onto my bucket list.

I was very fortunate with the weather on this day because overnight a big storm moved in and just one day later I would not have seen anything like this for several more days.