Pittsburgh May 2009

This will be a less conventional trip journal for me, mainly because I am not actually a tourist to the area, but a new resident settling in. I will try to organize the "to-do's" in a way that will make sense to a traveler. At this moment I have not had time to visit all the tourist places, but I will build up my trip in time.

On our first visit, we went to Station square to find Duquesne Incline. It was a Friday on Jan 2nd. Not a good day for tourists because nearly everything (restaurants, most stores, most tourist sites) are closed, but we were in town for "business" so we got a superdeal for the "Renaissance" (http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/pitbr-renaissance-pittsburgh-hotel/). It is very small, but very classy decorated. We were located in one of the rooms in the "arch" facing the PNC park and bridge. Very nice views. (showing arch view and Renassance bathroom)














Not alot of stores were open at Station square, but I can see that it is just a place to hang around and not true shopping. The Melting Pot restaurant with fondues is located here. Some stores for memorabilia especially sports. Also we can see the buildings of downtown from here.








































We misjudged and good thing we had a car because the Duquesne incline is no where near the Station square, although in the same area. The incline was pretty steep and short climb and it operates I believe until 12 midnight(but do check). It is part of "public" transportation as the hotel staff told us, and running hours is similar to the bus. Also, staff from Carnegie Mellon and University of Pittsburgh get free rides.





showing some views of the view from the ride up the incline and at top of incline. lots and lots of bridges.













































For lunch, we had primanti brothers sandwich stuffed with coleslaw and french fries, very good. We went to the Primanti on "the strip", there is another store in the University area.













For dinner, we had special occasion and ate at the pricey but very elegant restaurant "Eleven", one of the big burrito restuarant chains.Includes complements of the chef, entrees, and fancy desert S'mores (yummy)























(1/2/2009)