Cruising through City

One day while returning from grocery store, me and my friends decided to explore Pittsburgh downtown. We checked various options and finally decided on the Gateway Clipper Fleet ride. Its a cruise ride which covers the entire downtown. We had booked the 7:30 pm ride but got stuck in the traffic and were late by few minutes. So we went for the 8:30 pm ride. We spent the next 40 minutes exploring station square.

Boarding the Cruise

At 8:30 pm we boarded our cruise. It was a marvelous cruise. We sat at the open deck. The guide gave us details about various landmarks of the city.

Approaching a Bridge

It was only on this ride we realized the city has so many bridges, each having its own story. It was twilight when we started but it grew dark in a few minutes. With darkness, the lights of each landmark came up.

Night view of Pittsburgh

Night view

Distant view of Mount Washington

We were mesmerized by the night view of the city. On the way the Point State Park fountain looked amazing with lights all around it. The shining fountain water and the darkness just seemed to complement each other. The rivers continued to flow in their simple rhythm in spite of this change of time.

Point State Park Fountain at night

We also came to know about the history of the Duquesne Incline. It was 9:30 pm when we got down from the cruise.

They say whatever happens, happens for good. We were upset on missing the 7:30 pm ride but had we not missed it, we would not have seen the Magnificient night view of the city. So the next time you miss a schedule on a tour, don’t be disheartened, remember there might be something better in store for you.

How my boring bus ride became interesting

I was coming from Mumbai to Pune. It takes around 4-5 hours due to traffic in mumbai. Once you are out of mumbai, the mumbai-pune expressway is just too good. The bus passes through lonavala. I was as usual sitting in the bus fiddling with my cellphone which was running short of battery.

I didn’t realize we had reached lonavala. All of a sudden the bus stopped. We all looked up. After 15 minutes someone came and said, something went wrong, it is being repaired. We all got down from the bus. It was monsoon and lonavala was at its best. The clouds falling over the mountains was just mesmerising. There was a beautiful fog. I realised what a beautiful scene I was missing. Today we have become so accustomed to our gadgets that we just ignore the simple beauties of life. I gave up all the worries, kept my cellphone inside the bag and began to enjoy the ride. A little way further, the bus stopped at a restaurant. In that beautiful cloudy, foggy yet breezy weather, I had onion fries and a cup of steaming hot tea. There was a small bookshop there. As I was going through the books, my eyes fell on a book “Anything for you, mam”. I bought it and began reading. It was a cute, urban love story set in the backdrop of engineering college. The book made my ride even more enjoyable.

After coming home, I couldn’t help writing a review on that book. But I would’nt have enjoyed the ride so much had the bus not stopped. As murphy’s law states “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”. We must accept this and learn to thank anything and everything that happens.