Friday, May 11, 2012

24 Hours in the Steel City

Today I made my first ever visit to Pittsburgh, PA. I realized late last week that I had a certificate on United that was going to expire on May 12. After visiting Philly over 100 times I decided that it was just silly that I had never been to Pittsburgh and making a quick trip there would be a good use of my nearly free ticket. The Pirates are known to have one of the best stadiums in MLB, even if its team and attendance are both notoriously terrible.

Upon arriving in Pittsburgh I made my way downtown near the stadiums. I planned to take a tour of Heinz Field at 12PM. I had some time to kill before the tour, so I took my friend Carl’s advice and looked for the Andy Warhol Museum.

Parking in downtown is not particularly cheap. Most of the signs I saw said parking all day was in the $25 range with no in and out privileges. The $25 wouldn’t be the end of the world but I wasn’t 100% sure that I would leave my car downtown all day and I really didn’t want to pay twice. I drove around and eventually found a meter right by the baseball stadium and 3ish blocks from the AW Museum. When I got out to feed the meter I realized it was out of order. In Oregon when this happens you can park there free because there is in fact no way to pay the meter. I decided to roll the dice and hope the meter maids of Pitt followed this same rationale.



I spent 30 minutes in the Warhol Museum and realized that I would need considerably more time to thoroughly enjoy it. I decided that I would come back after touring Heinz Field. I walked the mile or so down to the football stadium and took the tour. The views were fantastic inside the facility as was the layout of its “Great Hall” which displays much of the Steelers storied history.





After the tour I walked around the river and to a restaurant called Primanti Brothers. Carl told me I had to try one of its sandwiches as they are one of the things for which Pittsburgh is known. Below is the turkey sandwich I ordered. It was delicious.



After lunch I walked back across the river to finish looking around the Warhol Museum. On the way I checked on my car to see that it was still parking ticket free, which thankfully it was. 

The Warhol Museum was quite interesting. I’m not sure how I feel about “Pop Art” but I will readily admit to respecting Warhol as a business man. Evidently he made screen printing a big part of his “process” because it was made for a quick artistic turnaround. I was shocked to learn that when Warhol died in 1984 he was worth $220,000,000.

It was 4:30PM or so when I finished the museum. I had about an hour to kill before going to the game, so I stopped in a bar, drank a Diet P, charged my phone and worked on this here blog.

The game itself was fun. The stadium was beautiful. I sat in the front row at an MLB game for the first time. On one fly ball I’m fairly certain the guy next to me prevented the first baseman from making the catch. I was watching the ball and when I looked to my right as it came down three Pirates were standing within my arms reach. The Pirates ended up losing the game 1-0.

After the game I made one final stop that Carl recommended. I drove over to the South Side. According to Carl the South Side has the most bars per square mile of anywhere in the United States. He recommended a few restaurants where I should eat but I was still full from my Primanti Sandwich.

I’m now back at the hotel and have to call it a night because I’m off to NYC early in the morning.

Katy

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