Pittsburgh, surprisingly ok – Pittsburgh, PA

Adam and Liesel rolled out the red carpet for my visit to Pittsburgh.  When I walked into the guest room there were towels, US and People magazines, and a mint on my bed.  Hotel Sparhawk is the best!

Liesel had to work on Friday so Adam and I did a little exploring on our own.  Our first stop was to a little donut shop called Peace, Love, and Little Donuts.  The donuts were pretty tasty but Adam was even more impressed with the milk.  I know, weird, right?  Then we had lunch at Pirmanti’s, a restaurant famous for their sandwiches stuffed with french fries and coleslaw.  Adam and I were not impressed and will not be returning.

After lunch we headed over to the Mattress Factory, a modern art museum located in an old mattress factory.  Definitely one of the coolest modern art museums I have ever been to.   One of the exhibits starts out with you holding, no gripping, onto a railing and walking through a darkened hallway and up a ramp.  At the top of the ramp you walk into an even darker room and sit in a chair.  There you sit in complete darkness (so dark that you can feel it) and wait for about 15 minutes for the magic to happen.  It was kind of creepy but super cool.  I know some of you will be visiting this museum so I won’t ruin it for you.  This is a MUST SEE if you are in the area.  They also had a cool exhibit with lots of polka dots and mirrors.  Our last stop was to a room on the 4^th floor that you had to be escorted too.  We were a little worried about what we were going to see after the other wacky exhibits.  It turns out there is a big hole in the floor and there is a chute that goes through the 3^rd floor and has an opening/window at the bottom.  It was pretty cool.

Next we headed over to the Duquesne Incline (a cable car ride that offers an amazing view of the city).  When we got to the top a couple asked us if we would take their picture.  Of course we said yes and before we knew it the guy was getting down on one knee and proposing to this girl.  At first we thought he was joking around but as soon as he whipped out the ring and she started to cry we knew it was for real.  Kind of awkward but kind of funny.

Our last adventure before we picked up Liesel was driving up Canton Avenue.  Canton Avenue is tied with Prentiss Street in San Francisco as the steepest public street in the US.  Canton has a grade of 37%.  Unfortunately, the pictures don’t do the street justice.  We felt like we were lying down as we were driving up it. Oh, and don’t worry, we drove up it a couple of times. 

We picked up Liesel and headed straight to Vincent’s Pizza Park for dinner.  Adam and Liesel didn’t warn me about how insanely filling this pizza was going to be.  I think I should have fasted all day long in order to be able to eat one slice without filling sick.  I’ve never seen a pizza place pile on the toppings like this before.  Also, Vinnie passed away a few months ago, so RIP Uncle Vinnie.  After dinner we headed to the movies and then ate some Coldstone ice cream.  I think Coldstone has started making their ice cream with corn syrup because it was DISGUSTING!  All I wanted was to taste the yummy ice cream I remembered eating in college. So sad!

Well, that was day one.  Are you exhausted yet?  I am!