Pittsburgh - Day 3

The previous night's activity accomplished that which we had all set out to do in Pittsburgh, namely, marry off one Emily Petrack to one Kimmer Graham. That being done, everything to follow was just gravy. And those who know me can attest that if there's one thing I love, it's gravy. Mmmmmmmm... gravy.

We had breakfast (hotel buffet) with the Meyers, before seeing them to a taxi. Finally free of the excess baggage of other wedding-goers, Kelsey and I were left to begin the tourist checklist for the greater Pittsburgh area. Our only concern was the whole transportation thing, which had shown to be somewhat, um... problematic in days past. Fortunately, many of the suggested points of interest were within walking distance of the hotel.

We both had the idea of seeing the Andy Warhol Museum, so that was the first stop. Appropriately, we walked across the pedestrian path of the Andy Warhol Bridge (the middle of the Three Sisters Bridges) to get there. The museum itself was quit an interesting place. I'm finding it difficult to conjure up the language to best capture it's essence, but I did really enjoy it. The building is actually on a rather small footprint, but there are at least 7 floors of exhibits. Thinking back upon my experience, I'm realizing that the first floor is pretty tame - showing a lot of his iconic pop works - but things get increasingly strange and bizzare as you ascend each flight of stairs - with the upper floors exhibiting his forays into film, and, yes, taxidermy.

in the lobby of the Andy Warhol Museum

From there we strolled the few blocks between the museum and PNC Park. Turns out there wasn't a great deal to see besides a few very uninteresting bars in the bottom floor of commercial buildings. We spent some time lounging about the riverside boardwalk and parks, before crossing back to the downtown side of the river. A game was in sessions, so we got to walk across the closed-to-traffic bridge (The Roberto Clemente?) on the way to find food downtown. I have to admit walking on the closed off bridges never got old for me. Easily one of my favorite things about Pittsburgh.

riverfront parks; looking downtown

Our quest to find food quickly turned into a circuitous walk to the oft-visited Primanti Brothers. This was not our first choice, or even on the list at all really. But for whatever reason, every interesting place our smartphones pointed us to was shuttered or appeared to never exist. This reminded me a lot of my experience in Jacksonville this winter, I wondered if this was a recent development due to the economic downturn (though there did seem to be a considerable effort to improve the downtown area). In any case, we had a quick bite and pint and went back to the hotel to regroup before the evening.

kelsey amusing herself; the bright spot of our dining search

It was decided that we would walk over to the incline around dusk, and then continue on to the Southside for dinner and whatnot. There are two inclines that ferry riders up and down the hillside of Mt. Washington on pairs of tracked vehicles. It's a pretty neat concept, and the cars and stations are a very well-maintained piece of history. Of course, we had to walk over yet another bridge to get there, which was fine by me.

Upon arriving at the unmanned bottom station, we came to learn that exact change was required, of which we were just the tiniest bit short. Not only that, but we didn't even have any bills small enough to be accepted by the change-making machine there. Not to worry, as we passed an outdoor mall and dining center just a couple blocks back. Or so I thought, because as this was a Sunday, the mall and all of the small shops conducive to gum purchasing and change making were closed. Left with no other choice, we stepped into the gift shop of the Pittsburgh Hard Rock Cafe. As you might expect if you've been to a Fill-In-The-Blank Hard Rock Cafe gift shop, it's actually hard to get change there because even the smallest items in there will tend to require all of your larger bills and leave you with very little of that all important change. Sigh. I ended up the proud new owner of an $8 applique patch that I will never sew, pin, or glue onto anything. Actually, Kelsey is the proud owner, I believe. But nevertheless, we did obtain that elusive exact change required for our voyage up the Monongahela Incline, and all of the previous paragraph considered, I've got to say it was probably worth it.

The ride is actually quite a bit longer than I surmised from the bottom (as is often the case), and one is afforded what is likely the best view in the city as the counterweight of the oppositely directed car pulls you uphill. A block up from the top station is an overhanging lookout where tourists like us can congregate for a prime photo op.

approaching top station

After taking full advantage of the lookout opportunties given us, we rode the incline down (should it be a decline from this perspective?). We had hoped to come across a cab at the mall at the bottom in spite of all that we had learned in the previous three days. Our hopes dashed, we enlisted the help of the concierge desk at the hotel nearby. After calling us a cab, the concierge informed us at just how awful was the cab situation in town. No kidding. But we did get a ride to the Southside and had a really good dinner at The Double Wide Grill (after some wait - Kelsey was getting very worried we wouldn't get food) and stopped in Fatheads a few blocks down for a pint before calling it a night. Somehow we lucked into a cab ride back to the hotel without too much wait, and retired to the room exhausted. But not too exhausted to sample the Graham/Petrack commemorative wine.

More pics. You know where.