Pittsburgh

My friend Steve and I went to Pittsburgh this weekend to visit our friend Lisa who is in law school there. I haven't been to Pittsburgh since I was a little kid, and had a negative impression of Pittsburgh for some reason, so I was pleasantly surprised. There were a lot of very likable things about Pittsburgh.

The Strip District, a historic market district, was full of fun ethnic grocery shores, gourmet chocolate shops, an entire store devoted to spices, just about any kind of food you can imagine, and St. Stanislaus, a catholic church. It was closed for mass, so we never saw the inside, but I liked photographing the gold roofs of the outside against the blue sky.

We also went up the Duquesne incline, which was built in 1877 and still uses wooden gears in the machinery! The woodwork inside the cars is pretty neat too. The view from the top, however, is what really makes it worth the $4 ticket.

Dinner was at Primanti Brothers, where I unfortunately did not get out my camera. But, despite the fact that french fries ON my sandwich sounded weird, I was assured that it was an authentically Pittsburgh experience, and it was pretty tasty. I followed up dinner with jasmine green tea with tapioca pearls, so I was a happy camper.

This morning I did get out my camera, because breakfast at Pamela's P&G diner was definitely deserving of a photo or 2, and worth the 1/2 hour (or longer) wait for a table. Supposedly it's the best place to get breakfast in Pittsburgh, and despite the fact that it's the only place I got breakfast in Pittsburgh, I think it might really deserve its reputation. My strawberry hotcakes were delicious. Next time my cousin and sister and I have crepe night, I think we need to try this: fruit, sour cream and brown sugar inside, topped with whipped cream. Yum.

We ended our trip with a visit to the Carnegie center, though we just went to an omnimax movie (pretty cool experience), and didn't visit the science center. Maybe next time. :)