A week or so ago we made the small trek out to the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning. This building is pretty amazing in its own right, with large study spaces in a cathedral setting, an amazing view of the city from 40 floors up (and a controlled free-fall elevator to go with that experience - yikes), a library, a theater, and all kinds of cool stuff. But we really showed up for the star of the show, the Nationality Rooms (virtual tours available at that site).

Basically, this is a collection of 27 classrooms that are built in the traditional (or historical) style of various countries. Most of the rooms were built in the 1940s and 1950s. All of them were quite expensive to make ... and it shows. Each and every room really feels like you step into a whole new world of learning. Not only are you going from country to country between rooms, but you are also shifting time periods (I believe that the only stipulation for choosing the historical style of the rooms is that it had to precede the late 1800s).

For us, the winners of the 'coolest' prize were the Syria/Lebanon (see above), Austrian, Chinese, English, Indian rooms. Runners up included the Armenian, African, Czechoslovakian, and German rooms. In the final analysis, however, all of the rooms were beautiful in their own right. See here for all the rooms, and here's the French room for you know who your are. It also bodes well that Jon appeared to quite enjoy the whole classroom experience.