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| The Duquesne Incline Railway Car and downtown Pittsburgh |
Wow! We've been in Pittsburgh for a day and a half so far and the only regret is that we hadn't visited here before now. There is so much to see and do in and around this beautiful and very walkable city of just over 300,000. The more we see and learn, the more that we're adding to the itinerary for the next two days.
We flew into Pittsburgh International Airport which is located about 15 miles out of town. We didn't feel that a car would be necessary while we're in the city, which so far has proven to be a good decision for us. There are several options to get from the airport to downtown. We opted for the least expensive option which is a city bus. The bus (28X) runs directly from the airport to downtown every thirty minutes or so (schedules may vary on weekends and holidays) and dropped us off less than two blocks from our hotel. The cost for the bus was $2.75 each. An Uber or Taxi would have been at least $40. We're staying at the Westin, and as we often do, we booked it through Hotwire for a 65% savings over the advertised rates.
Downtown Pittsburgh is fairly compact and is bordered by the Allegheny River on the east and the Monongahela River on the west. These two rivers converge to form the Ohio River on the north. Three rivers means a whole lot of bridges. According to the local guidebook, the city of Pittsburgh has 446 bridges, which is three more bridges than Venice, Italy. Both are known as the "City of Bridges".
Pittsburgh has a more common nickname that most people are familiar with, the "Steel City". The city was built and prospered around steel production until the mid-1980's. It took a period of several years before it began to reinvent itself into the vibrant, economically diverse city that it is today. Our Uber driver, John who is a long time resident of the city, credited the two universities for playing a major role in helping Pittsburgh through the transition out of steel production.
Our room wasn't ready when we got to the hotel but it was lunch time so I asked for some suggestions. The hotel clerk suggested a few places in what she referred to as the "strip district".
My first reaction was to see if I could make her laugh by telling her that was a nice suggestion but that since Beth was with me it would probably be a good idea to stay out of the "strip district". I didn't know much, but I did know the strip district wasn't what the name might imply, and that it was actually neighborhood close to downtown. The origin of it's name is related to the fact that due to the Allegheny River and some hills, the area is long (about 20 blocks) and narrow (3 blocks).
We found food at Pamela's Diner, a cash only place that has been featured on Diners, Drive In's and Dives. They specialize in breakfast, but cook up a pretty good hamburger and buffalo chicken wrap as well. The strip district features a number of ethnic restaurants and markets as well as shops, most of which feature tons of merchandise of their beloved sports teams, the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins.
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| Lunchtime! |
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| Strip District Mural |
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| Sixteenth Street Bridge over the Allegheny River |
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| Beth holding up the Sixteenth Street Bridge |
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| A reference to Mulberry, Fl? |
One thing I had never pondered before, but was educated on by Ben, (Sports Trivia Genius) is that Pittsburgh is the only city with multiple professional sports teams that all have the same colors (Black and Gold). I can't think of any others and Ben usually isn't wrong about these kind of things.
After lunch we spent most of the rest of the afternoon simply exploring by foot. The Three Rivers Heritage Trail runs along the riverfront on the downtown side of the rivers. Most of the bridges in the downtown area have pedestrian areas that allow you to cross over and explore trails on the opposite side of the river as well, but those are for another day. At the tip of downtown where the rivers meet is Point State Park, which has a huge fountain. The fountain hasn't been turned on for the season yet, but it's easy to tell that it is impressive when it's operating.
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| Louis and Clark were here |
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| PNC Park...…..Home of the Pirates |
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| Heinz Field...…...Home of the Steelers. Both the baseball park and football stadium are across the Allegheny River from downtown. |
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| The Duquesne Incline |
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| Springtime in Pittsburgh...…...a welcome site! |
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| Artwork in the Cultural District |
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| more downtown artwork |
Ben will be working about an hour out of Pittsburgh in the Harrisville, Grove City, Mercer area. He and his two good friends and road warrior partners (Joni and Ben's dog Allie) had arrived from Texas very late Tuesday evening. He and Joni drove over to spend a few hours with us and to explore a little more of the downtown area.
We walked more of downtown crossing over the Monongahela River on the Smithfield Street Bridge. Here we walked along the riverfront to the Duquesne Incline, a 140 year old funicular (inclined railway). The steep 800 foot long climb takes you up 400 feet to the top of Mt. Washington and gives you a spectacular view back across the river to downtown. We went late enough in the afternoon that we were able to enjoy views in both the daytime and at night. Roundtrip cost for this is only $5.00 and the views are priceless.
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| Getting ready to head up the Duquesne Incline |
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| Point State Park and Downtown. The Allegheny River is upper left, Monongahela River is lower and the Ohio River at the tip of the state park. |
Thursday was about heading out a little further and spending the day in the Oakland District neighborhoods. This area is about 4 miles from downtown and includes the Phipps Conservatory Botanical Gardens, Schenley Park, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. The botanical gardens had a number of indoor displays of spring flowers that were in bloom. Outdoors the trees seemed to be blooming and budding right before our eyes on one of the warmest days so far this year.
The University of Pittsburgh campus is quite impressive. The centerpiece of the campus is the "Cathedral of Learning". The 42 story (535 feet) building is the tallest educational building in the Western Hemisphere and second tallest university building in the world (the tallest is on the University of Moscow campus). As impressive as it is on the outside, it is equally impressive on the inside with a four story high gothic study/events hall. There are around 30 classrooms that are decorated by national and ethnic groups that are recognized as having contributed to the building of the city of Pittsburgh. The furnishings in each classroom are original to the countries and ethnic groups they represented.
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| Entrance to the Phipps Conservatory |
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| Collage of Color from inside the Phipps Conservatory |
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| Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh Campus |
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| Outside the Carnegie Music Hall and Natural History Museum on the Pitt campus. He's ready for the Stanley Cup Playoffs |
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| The Study and Events Hall inside the Cathedral of Learning |
After leaving the campus we walked a few miles through the Shadyside neighborhoods which had some impressive mansions. This led us to Walnut Street, a very cool street lined with shops, coffee houses and restaurants. We enjoyed a nice late lunch at a place called Shady Grove before heading back downtown.
We took an Uber out to the Oakland area (approx. $10) and a city bus back to downtown. As with the bus ride in from the airport, the bus (#86) was very nice, the ride was quick and we were dropped off right at the hotel.
We've got a weeks worth of fun planned for the next two days...…………...so much to see and do!
