Our mantra during our one week in Pittsburgh was, “This is the Pitts!” Just before we arrived, a sinkhole opened up in front of one of the hotels where some of the cast would be staying and partially swallowed a city bus (fortunately no one was seriously injured)! Literally the pits!!
ALERT: Big sink hole downtown. Avoid area. Two people on @PGHtransit bus, one transported to hospital w minor injuries. Kids at Small World child care evacuated to Westin, and are happy and safe. Public safety evaluating situation. More updates to come. pic.twitter.com/nPdZcRi1xp
— Pgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) October 28, 2019
Pittsburgh really wasn’t that bad though. As much as our initial impression of Pittsburgh definitely clouded our opinion of the city while we were there, looking back on it, there were some really lovely and enjoyable things about the city. See for yourself in our recommendations below!
eat
› Millie’s Ice Cream – We were planning to go here anyway, but due to the sinkhole, they were offering a limited-time Sinkhole Sundae: “two scoops of ice cream, a sinkhole ring of homemade whip, a stranded-bus of a crispy waffle cone, and your choice of sauce & crunchy topping for just five bucks.” It was fantastic!
› Primanti Bros. – This “almost famous” Pittsburgh standard is known for their meaty sandwiches that are served with French fries in the sandwich. When we went, the only vegetarian option was a Black Bean Burger, but we opted for the fish, which did not disappoint.
› La Gourmandine – A local chain with really fabulous French pastries and savory lunch items. Note that as of this writing, the downtown location is not open on the weekends.› Bae Bae’s Kitchen – Delicious, Korean inspired cuisine with great vegetarian/vegan options (the crispy tofu is excellent). It was so good that we went back a few times!
› Nicky’s Thai Kitchen – Just around the corner from the theatre, this Thai restaurant really hit the spot.
› S&D Polish Deli – Everyone recommended the Strip District for pierogis and this is where we ended up after seeing some interesting pierogi flavors on their website. Unfortunately, they did not have any of those to order. Overall, they were fine pierogis.
› Condado Tacos – This local chain never disappoints.
see
› All the bridges – Pittsburgh has 446 bridges!! The yellow ones are striking and make a particularly good backdrop for photos.
› Point State Park – A nice park at the “pointy end” of Pittsburgh with interesting history, a beautiful fountain, and a wonderful view. You can access the Ft. Pitt Bridge’s pedestrian walkway from this park if you plan to walk to the Duquesne Incline.
do
› Bicycle Heaven Museum – It wasn’t my idea of “bicycle heaven,” but it was still a fun, fascinating visit. If you are in to vintage Schwinns, then this place will not disappoint! It was mostly impressive to see the scale of the collection and the incredible number of bikes and bike-related memorabilia.
› Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh – They had just moved their Mister Rogers exhibit to a new location that opened later than their main science center, so we spent more time here than we anticipated. We had a great time though; and despite being the only adults without children here, we were still encouraged to participate in the interactive elements. The Mister Rogers exhibit, once we got to see it, was really nicely curated, however, we learned as we were leaving Pittsburgh that the better exhibit was at the Heinz History Center. If you like Mister Rogers, then I recommend planning to go to both.
› Duquesne Incline – We have been on our fair share of funiculars around the world, and this one didn’t seem worth the hype. The view of Pittsburgh from the top of the incline was great and the stations and cars were antique, but it was essentially a funicular to and from nowhere. We were hoping there would be more to do around the incline, but there wasn’t, especially in the middle of the day (there were some restaurants at the top that looked like they may be open in the evenings). We did later hear that there was another incline, the Monongahela Incline, but we didn’t visit it so are not sure if it is any better.
› Mattress Factory Museum – This quirky and eclectic modern art museum is spread out over a few different buildings in a rather residential neighborhood. There were some really interesting and thought-provoking exhibits throughout, but since we are not particularly interested in modern art, we found much of it odd and unintentionally humorous.
souvenir shops
› love, Pittsburgh – Lots of small items from local artisans. We picked up some really nice stickers here.
› VisitPittsburgh – Your normal city tchotchke shop.
bike
› We weren’t able to do any cycling here, but we were jealous of the cyclists we saw using, what looked like, beautiful bike paths around Point State Park.
stay
› Drury Plaza Hotel Pittsburgh – A large hotel with a decent breakfast.
getting around
› We mostly walked or occasionally used ride-sharing services, so we can’t speak to any of the public transit options (except for the Incline, about which we already shared our opinion).
if we go back...
Whenever we encounter someone who loves Pittsburgh, we ask them why and what we missed. Most often, the first thing they recommend is the Duquesne Incline, which we found underwhelming, but ultimately, from what we’ve gathered, much of what people love about Pittsburgh is the surrounding area which is only easily accessible by car which we did not have. So, if we were to go back, we would make sure we had a car or at least rented one for a few days of our trip.
› Heinz History Center: Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
› The Neighborhoods – Including a visit to Carnegie Mellon University.
› Great Allegheny Passage – This 150 mile trail connects Pittsburgh to D.C. Bryan would love to ride all or a portion of it some day.
