| Good suggestions so far.
It would be a shame to breeze thru in just 3 hours. The campus itself though is compact where you can go end to end in maybe 15 minutes. Besides your son's department, must see on campus would be site of new Gates bldg construction (as KK said), the fine arts building (look up at the ceiling), roof of Campo (next to Tepper bldg), wander inside UCenter, and Purnell theater.
Don't expect a Princeton-like campus. But in its functionality and order and symmetry (the mall) the campus has its beauty and certainly has a college feel in spite of being in a city.
Agree strongly with LongPrime...to get a feel for CMU overall, you need to walk off the campus down Forbes Av (east) to the Craig Street area, which in my mind is the unofficial demarcation between the Pitt and CMU campuses and where students from both U's hang out. Walk east a bit more, go inside the Cathedral and if you have time go to the top floor (about 35 floors) where there's a fantastic bird's eye view of the entire CMU campus. The Carnegie museums are across the street. Then walk down Forbes (still east) a bit more to get the real feel of Oakland (lower Pitt campus).
If you can scrounge up another hour, head toward the city (downtown), take the Liberty bridge exit, make your first right just over the bridge (don't go thru the tunnel). Follow that for Mt. Washington view of the city. It's a beauty...you see the city, the three rivers, stadiums spread before you. Especially at dusk.
If you're there at breakfast or lunch, go to Pamela's restaurant on Walnut in Shadyside for the best pancakes (crispy edged crepe-like dreams) anywhere.
Hope you can spend a full day...there's a lot to see. Have fun. |