We’ve just returned from a mini-vacation to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and then on to Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
Having been born and raised near Gary, Indiana, I assumed the city would reek of molten steel. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The city was clean and fresh our entire visit. However, it is closed for road construction. Navigating our way on the city streets was a challenge of metric proportions.
In a related note, update your GPS before you go. The streets that weren’t under construction were new enough that our GPS was completely and totally lost on more than one occasion. He got so tired of “turn around when possible” that he finally just quit talking.
In another related note, Pittsburgh drivers are the most polite on the planet. We didn’t find ourselves stuck in a jamb once without someone offering to let us in.
Primanti Brothers has the best weird sandwich in town. It’s a combination of meat, fried egg, cheese, french fries and cole slaw on the best bread on the planet. Yuuuu-uuuum.
Pamela’s has the best non-pancake pancakes in town. If you listen closely, you can actually hear your arteries harden just reading the menu. They are a thin crepe-like pancake fried in a boatload of grease making browned, crunchy edges. I had mine with chocolate chips and bananas and I think I may have witnessed a little bit of heaven right then and there.
We worshed the car on the sou-side, drank an Arn City beer, and took a tour of Heinz Field, home of the Stillers.
The entire Shadyside District is inhabited by rich white people.
In addition to excellent food, Jerome Bettis’ 36 Grille has a one-way mirror in the men’s room in front of the urinals. I have it on good authority that you can pee while looking directly out into the bar. Hub said it was a little disconcerting. The ladies room also had a one-way mirror facing the sinks only but the ladies complained too much so they covered it up with mirror tiles. :rolleyes:
The Monongahela Incline gives a breathtaking view of the city from the top of Mt. Washington.
Every student at Pitt is apparently issued an Ipod and ear buds on the first day of school.
As a native Clevelander I will be sanctioned for saying so, but Pittsburgh is a very nice city. PNC Park is a beautiful baseball field and well worth the trip. The view of the city from the incline - and coming out of the Fort Pitt Tunnel - is just spectacular.
A great place to be from, as I am. Great universities, museums, art, scenery. Love to visit With no desire to live there again as I live in Northern Califonia. Wine, weather, and world class attractions.
Well, apparently the hippies decided to embrace the establishment. Of course, I’m seeing it through a tourist’s eyes…Chico’s, Banana Republic White House Black Market and huge Victorian mansions smell like Republicans to me.
The steel mills closed down in the eighties. I’m glad to hear that you loved “da’burgh.” If you’re ever in town again, be sure and check out the Carnegie, and Phipps Conservatory. (Oh, and hey – don’t be a stranger!)
Plus all the bridges. Pittsburgh is a city of bridges, and it makes the city seem less constricted and cramped than other industrial cities. It gives a feeling of airiness in some places.
Hey Guin, didn’t know you were a Pittsburgher! I wanted to get some Dopers together but this was a whirlwind trip. Fort Wayne → Canton → Pittsburgh → Fort Wayne in less than 4 days.
Glad you enjoyed our city, Ruby! Come back again soon.
Nah, there are also rich Asian people, a few rich black people and some not at all rich students who join up in large numbers to share very nice digs because they don’t want to live in the Oakland squalor.
Nah, limousine liberals. That’s one of the bluest parts of a blue city, actually. And a lot of those mansions are subdivided into condos nowadays.
