Pittsburgh!

There are towns with good brand names and there are towns with bad brand names (i.e., Cleveland).  Pittsburgh is one of the towns for which we had...   ...modest...  expectations, but which surpassed those expectations beyond belief!

We arrived in town on Wednesday evening and quickly met Abigail's brother, Caleb, at his apartment in the lovely Shadyside neighborhood.  He and his girlfriend, Blair, showed us around what is clearly a pleasant neighborhood and we toured his local beverage and cuisine establishments.  He had already prepared a generous list of things we might tour around Pittsburgh, and our motivation was high.

Said motivation, however, was quickly tempered on Thursday by an oppressive, sultry heat wave that had enveloped all of the Northeast.  Thursday morning, we dined (oh did we dine) at the less-than-healthy Pamela's cafe, whose affinity for butter rivaled our affinity for cooled, conditioned air.  However, we overcame our magnetic attraction to the air conditioned confines of the cafe, and headed to the South Shore of the Monangahele river, where we rode up the 'incline' -- a gondola that rides the steep inclines of the bluffs overlooking the river and found lovely ice cream and a great view of the city.  We descended the incline and moved into a converted railroad-yard-now-shopping-center, which afforded us air conditioning and a place to rest.  That afternoon, we took in a duck tour of the city, which provided a welcome orientation to the town.

Friday, with Caleb, we drove 90 minutes out of town and into the Laurel Heights in search of Frank Lloyd Wright's famed Falling Water, designed as a country home for the owners of Kauffman's department store (Kauffmans, like Filene's, Marshall Field's, and the Bon Marche, has been folded into Macy's).  The tour of the house was wonderful and informative, and the home lives up to its fame as the touchstone of mid-century modernity.  It is the house that you wish all ranch homes are and never become.  We would post pictures of Falling Water were it not for their constraining photography policy.

Friday evening, we all celebrated Caleb's birthday with a trip to Pittsburgh's own Hoffbrauhaus.  A raucous, exhausting time was enjoyed by all - replete with German beer hall song and dance!

Saturday, Caleb and Blair showed us around the Phipps' Conservatory, a massive, impressive botanical feast of the senses.  The sprawling gardens and greenhouses are home to a robust collection of floral and plant species from across the globe -- from coffee trees to agave plants!  It's a beautiful way to spend the morning and was a fitting end to a visit to one of the most pleasant, livable towns in the country.  All of our pictures from around this fabulous city are here!  Pictures from the Phipps are here.