In the ‘Burgh

I was in Pittsburgh this weekend.  This is one of my favorite cities that I’ve seen.  I say that, having not been to a ton of cities in the world, but from what I’ve seen in America at least, Pittsburgh is right up there with Toronto and New York.  I love this town.  It naturally reminds me of Buffalo, with its industrial bloodlines and blue collar ethics.  I especially love the way the city’s cultural veins runs through the corridors of industry and steel, weaving its way through the city like it does here in Buffalo.  We are artists in addition to plant workers; we work with our hands as well as our minds and hearts.  It’s a wonderful canvas on which to paint a life, with its inimitable characters and cherished characters.

I’m going to get some points taken off for saying this, but Pittsburgh is a version of what Buffalo could be should be might have been had steps been taken along the way that made commercial development and artistic culture coincide.  Had, for instance, we thought to be inclusive of our sports teams within city limits more and had we left our city’s neighborhoods remain as they were, people might not have left so quickly and readily.  I don’t want to dig my ditch even deeper here, as I’m skimming the surface here and unfairly presenting one segment of a percent of a point.  But, I’ll say it here once and never again:  Pittsburgh is a bigger and better Buffalo.  There, go ahead and shoot me.  Sorry.  He started it.

I’ve been to Pittsburgh twice before, and though they were short visits (and took place somewhere around a decade ago), they had a lasting impact on me.  I had wanted to go to the University of Pittsburgh very badly once I saw their city campus and its Cathedral of Learning, the school’s front door, so to speak.  It is an old cathedral no kidding and today it houses a library, classrooms and offices for the university.  It also features 27 Nationality Rooms, designed to look like classrooms from around the world.  The rooms were made and commemorated to celebrate the diversity in the university at the city of Pittsburgh.  It’s a magnificent building to walk through, and the Nationality Rooms are a museum in their own right.  Of course, across the street is the famed Carnegie Mellon, a university with a phenomenal museum.  Check out this webcam of the Cathedral of Learning and its vicinity.

I just love it here!

The best part of the city are the many pocket neighborhoods that pepper the various districts, each with their own feel and culture.  The South Side has a narrow commercial strip with used book stores, great used music stores (lots of use here, I’ve found), and some wonderful pubs and restaurants.  I saw a Burger King that looked so old and vintage I had thought it was an actual castle.  We had lunch/dinner/linner/dunch at a pub yesterday which is known for its signature sandwiches.  No matter what you order, it would appear, they slather a healthy portion of fresh French fries, sweet and sour cole slaw and a tomato on your sandwich.  Most options are of a grilled meat and cheese variety, though there are a few other things available, like—and I thought this was rich—fresh salads.  Ha!  Here’s what almost killed me around 4:18 yesterday:

The pretense for being in Pittsburgh was my friend’s second annual chili cook-off.  I’ll get more into that later, but the accompanying banner image to this post sums up the festive festivities wonderfully.  More to come later on the chili.

Posted by on 09/22 at 10:01 AM