I’ve been talking about Pittsburgh for a couple of weeks now, since our weekend trip there. It really is a great city, I think. A lot of people think of it as soot covered and dirty, but that’s the old Pittsburgh, pre-early 80’s.

I’ll warn you now: there are lots of photos in this post!

The city has a lot to offer for a long weekend trip. The airport isn’t far out of town, so it’s a quick ride into the city. When you do enter the city, especially at night, you can’t help but be wowed by the skyline when you come out of the tunnel. The Southside has trendy and local shops and restaurants, and Station Square has a great collection of shops and restaurants along with a view of downtown and access to the Incline. Shadyside at one point had more mansions per area than anywhere else in the country. Next to Shadyside is Carnegie-Mellon, perennially one of the top schools in the country; it’s also a great place to catch a show as their drama and music theater departments are rated at or near the top in the country. And next to CMU is Schenley Park, home of Phipps Conservatory, which is right across the street from Carnegie Institute, a great art and natural history museum. Fox Chapel has neighborhoods that hearken to an almost fantasy world of family life that many of us only wish we’d had growing up.

Then there’s my single favorite Pittsburgh destination, the Strip District. This area has a long history, including being a shantytown during the depression and housing a foundry that produced 15% of the Union army’s artillery in the Civil War. Today, shops, lofts and restaurants line primarily Penn Avenue along the Allegheny River north of downtown. Some of the shops like Wholey’s and Pennsylvania Macaroni still carry the feel of the old produce yards that made up the area, while other shops are much trendier.

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