A day in Pittsburgh

Well we made it to Columbus, Ohio late last night after spending a full day in Pittsburgh.

We started off the day by heading over to the Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh and it was well worth it! Each door we walked through transported us into another country. Here is a blurb from Wikipedia about them:

"The Nationality Rooms are a collection of 29 classrooms in the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning depicting and donated by the ethnic groups that helped build the city of Pittsburgh. The rooms are designated as a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation historical landmark...Although of museum caliber, twenty-seven of the 29 rooms are in almost constant use as functional classrooms and utilized daily by University of Pittsburgh faculty and students..."

The Israel Heritage Room

The Turkish Room

The English Room (Designed after the House of Commons)

Naturally because we were in an academic setting, Heather decided to take advantage of her unique surroundings to teach a lesson...

And I relived my college days of falling asleep.

After I woke up, we headed to the Strip District for a Primanti Brothers meal. Richard, Kenny and the hotel staff all said we couldn't leave Pittsburgh without eating at Primanti Brothers. And holy cow was that an experience. Every sandwich is loaded with french fries and cole slaw!

And then it was onto PNC Park to see the Pirates host the Phillies!

The game was pretty exciting (even Heather thought so) with the Phillies winning 3-1. We even witnessed a pierogie race.

Overall, I give PNC Park a huge thumbs up. The area surrounding the park is absolutely beautiful and as you can see from the pictures, the views are breathtaking. Compared to Citi Field, I felt the park itself was a bit lacking and there was nothing unique about it. For example, no Rotunda, no Shea Bridge, no Apple in CF, no Monument Park. There was a statue of Roberto Clemente in the back and Honus Wagner in the front (pic above), but the walls were green! The Pirates colors are black and gold!!

But man......the views are awesome.

Now it's onto Cincinnati! We're seeing the Reds host the Giants tomorrow afternoon for a July 4th matchup. Maybe we'll see the 2nd no hitter of the series?  :)

Until next time!

Hello from Pittsburgh!

Well Day 1 is officially in the books!

After all of the rain we drove through, we couldn't believe that the weather in Pittsburgh was absolutely gorgeous so we didn't want to waste the evening. We made it to our hotel, the Hampton Inn downtown, at around 6:30 PM, dropped off our stuff in the room and went straight to the Duquesne Incline. From everything we read, taking the Duquesne Incline up to Mount Washington to see the views of the city from above was THE thing to do. And boy...was it ever! If you've been to Pittsburgh, you know what I'm talking about! Check out these pics...

Duquesne Incline

Heather holding on for dear life

PNC Park

Heinz Field

Tomorrow we're going to check out The Nationality Rooms at the University of Pittsburgh. Seems pretty interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationality_Rooms. And then tomorrow night it's Pirates-Phillies at PNC Park. Heather is psyched!!!  :)

Made it to Pittsburgh...with 1 tank of gas!

I was a bit skeptical of the Kia Optima, but it drives pretty nicely. Plus, the fuel efficiency is pretty impressive, no? 355 miles and still a 1/4 of a tank left.

Hello Pittsburgh!