Who Knew Toronto Was on the Med? Leg Five - The Bridges of Pittsburgh

[Wobbles]

The Previous Leg

After a long days driving, the problems around the parking and the fact that Pittsburgh has free public transport in the central area (metro and buses) we decided to ditch the car. The Metro is very clean and safe feeling and about the depth of the Circle line.

Our first stop was pain killers, I am allergic to Ibroprophen and found it difficult to find a pharmacist in Niagara Falls and needed some paracetamol. There are some many in Pittsburgh and I could pick up some big packs from Rite Aid, life got much better after that.

Thanks to our Waitress we caught the (free) railway to The Strip, a vibrant market and food place for drinks and eleveneses and a mooch around. Some of the diners had queues going right down the road, packed with locals so we knew we had made the right choice.

As well as diners, there were open air markets, craft stalls, craft beer/micro pubs all in the old docks area. It was a lively atmostphere and we learnt alot about the sports in the area.

We headed next into the centre of Pittsburgh for lunch (about 20 minutes walk), it was the weekend of the Pittsburgh Marathon, so this area was busy but we grabbed a couple of pints and wings in a diner which looked over the Square.

Pittsburgh is a mixture of glass (one of its most famous businesses is Pittsburgh Plate Glass or PPG who still own a lot of land in the centre), old industrial headquarters and bridges - lots and lots of bridges (over 400)... Sports - lots and lots of sport... and Heinz

We then we caught the free bus to the Dunquesne Incline Railway to walk across Mount Washington, which give you amazing views of the city.

Mount Washington is where the "Captain's of Industry" lived at the turn of the Century, today you can catch the Dunquesne railway and walk along the rim, visit another craft, bo-ho area with the most amazing ice-cream shop, DiFoire's Ice Cream Delight.

There is a second (slightly larger) incline railway, the Monongahela Incline station just outside the afore mentioned Ice Cream shop. Unlike most incline railways this one "gapped" and you had roads running underneath it. I was more excited about the wild geese (so no pictures of the geese)

This came out next to a metro station which took us back to the hotel. It had taken us all day to walk around Pittsburgh, its a beautiful, quirky city and we would go back as there was so much we didn't see it. It felt safer than London, we saw little sign of homelessness and it was very clean.

In the evening we headed to a local sports bar for burgers, lots of craft beers (Mr W) and ciders (Mrs W) and even though it was mid September it was warm enough to go home.

Next Leg - Cleveland Rocks