On the weekend of September 20-22, I drove down to Pittsburgh, PA. Like Cleveland and Cincinnati, Pittsburgh was saved until late in the season as a weekend trip in order to focus on the farther away stadiums before I started working. Additionally, this weekend was chosen because it was one of the few weekends my friend Ben, who now lives in Pittsburgh, was in town. It was great to be able to see him and take in a game with another baseball fan.
After work on Friday evening, I drove through some rain showers in northern Ohio and made it down to Ben's house around 9pm. Ben rents a room in a house in the Pittsburgh burough of West View from a man named Evan. Evan has lived almost his entire life in the West View area and, even though he had never met me prior, went of his way to make sure that I enjoyed my weekend in Pittsburgh. A late September Friday night in Pittsburgh means one thing to Evan and his friends: Oktoberfest. About 20 minutes after I arrived, I was back in a car - this time headed to Penn Brewery for their take on the Bavarian festival. The brewery had a German feel with its old brick exterior, picnic tables for seating, and a narrow brick walkway to a parking garage. The beer was also served in a half-gallon milk jug. For Oktoberfest, the parking garage was filled with more picnic tables to accommodate even more patrons. There was a band playing traditional German music and we all tried to sing along although no one knew the words.
The next day, Ben drove me around downtown Pittsburgh to show me the city. I had never been to Pittsburgh before but I was surprised by the number of bridges and the hills. One wrong turn and you might end up on a cliff on the opposite side of the river. We drove around the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University en route to Pamela's Diner, a famous breakfast place for Pittsburghers and President Obama. I had and enjoyed their famous pancakes, a hybrid between traditional pancakes and crepes. We had originally hope to go on a hike Saturday afternoon but the weather did not cooperate. Instead, we spent the afternoon watching a few college football games including Michigan vs. Connecticut. Our alma mater gave us quite a scare but ended up winning by a field goal.
The next morning, we at breakfast at another diner just a couple of blocks from Ben's house. I had an omelet with shaved ham - another Pittsburgh staple. I agree with Ben and Evan in that Pittsburgh does breakfast right. At the diner I noticed many people wearing Pirates gear. Pittsburgh does not have the recent reputation of being a great baseball city but it was clear to see that the first Pirates winning season in over 20 years has re-ignited the passion of the fans. Around noon, we headed downtown for the main purpose of the trip, attending a Pirates game. My experience at PNC Park will be written in an upcoming blog post. Although downtown was alive after the game in preparation for the Steelers Sunday night game but I headed back home to get back to Michigan at a decent hour.
No comments:
Post a Comment