Pittsburgh

Last weekend Karen and I visited Pittsburgh to see my beloved Cubs tangle with the Pirates.  I was curious to learn about Pittsburgh and see the city, but my real motivation was to see PNC Park, a stadium I'd seen countless times on television.  The ballpark didn't disappoint at all; it was everything I thought it would be, and more.  But Pittsburgh itself was a revelation.  It was such a pleasant surprise that Karen and I are making plans to visit again next year in the fall.

First, getting into Pittsburgh is a bit of a task.  Had Theseus been sent into Pittsburgh to slay the Minotaur, Ariadne wouldn't have had enough thread to help him navigate the labyrinth.  Pittsburgh, to twist Churchill's phrase, is a puzzle inside a maze inside that labyrinth.  Part of this determination comes from the fact that Pittsburgh has over 470 bridges -- not including foot bridges and railway bridges, as we were told on our boat tour.  It's little wonder that the some national or international bridge association has its yearly meeting in this city year after year.

That slight annoyance aside -- and it must be slight only for visitors, because the denizens seem to be able to navigate well and safely enough -- Pittsburgh is truly an enjoyable city.  Nestled at the confluence of the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, Pittsburgh actually has three layers, as it were.  The middle layer is what Karen and I referred to as Downtown, with the northern and southern layers are more residential in nature.

The architecture in the downtown area is, in a word, exquisite.  I'd forgotten that Pittsburgh was once the epicenter of the steel and glass industry.  The Andrews, Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon, and others made piles of money out the piles of coal and iron ore in them thar hills.  Driving through various neighborhoods -- aimlessly it would seem, as we knew not where we were going, only where we wanted to go -- we came upon magnificent houses that showed the wealth of a by-gone era.  Sadly, there were dilapidated houses in other parts of the city as well.  But Pittsburgh, at one time, knew wealth.

The downtown architecture was a blend of the old and the new, tastefully.  Its narrow streets reminded me of New York City and Karen of Boston, so it had an almost neighborly feel to it, unlike the broad avenues of Chicago or perhaps Los Angeles.  Pittsburgh, thankfully, lacked the noise of either of those metropolises and the neverending scaffolding of New York City.  It has a small town charm in a big-ish city, something that the larger urban areas fail miserably when they attempt to do it.

The separation of the city into three distinct strata makes for some confusion for visitors, with north shore being one of them simply because, depending on how one views the city, there are at least four different interpretations.  Getting lost in a tunnel is frustrating, simply because the tunnel leads one to another section of town that isn't visible from one side of it, therefore making a return trip more questionable.

The sights!  O' the sights!.  Seeing Pittsburgh from atop Mt. Washington, or from the Gateway Cruise ship, is something to behold.  The city has a charm and a character that is unique unto itself.  Some cities, such as Los Angeles, are boring to look at.  Others, like New York City, are perhaps interesting.  Perhaps out of parochial pride, others, like Chicago, are beautiful beyond compare.  Pittsburgh is closer to the last category, what with its unique topography and its skyline.

There are things in Pittsburgh that matter more to the locals than appealed to us.  We were told that Prantl's Bakery was great.  It's a bakery.  Getting to it was more trouble than it was worth.  The boat tour of the three rivers wasn't nearly as good as it could be, although it was a nice cruise.  Still, these are trifling complaints. 

I wonder what Pittsburgh is like in the winter, what with the steep climbs up and the sheer drops down the hillsides on the rivers.  It's probably quite the jewel in the middle of winter. 

Karen and I plan to go back next year during the fall to see the colors.  We usually go up north every year, but next year we'd like to spend more time in southwestern Pennsylvania and do a little exploring.  Pittsburgh will be our hub.  It turned out that Pittsburgh was a pleasant surprise. 

It would have been nice if the Cubs had won the game.  But even that couldn't detract from our visit.  The fireworks display after the game was the best that Karen and I had ever seen.  It was a fitting end to a wonderful trip.

(c) 2018 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles