On the road again...to Pittsburgh, Part 3

Pittsburgh is a hockey town. The valet I spoke with yesterday was a “diehard fan” and bemoaned the Penguins’ 0-3 hole to the Flyers. All the TVs at Diamond Market Bar & Grill (where the black bean burger turns into a salad) were tuned to hockey games and today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had the Flyers-Penguins series covered after a day off. (It mentioned that Game 3 of the series was the most watched, non-Stanley Cup Finals NHL game since 2002.)

Whatever. But you know what amazes me? The Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, and Phoenix Coyotes are in the NHL playoffs.

Unsurprising is the fact I have only seen one person representing the Pirates: a somewhat disheveled man wearing a retro Pirates shirt with player autographs on the shoulders. Was he homeless? Maybe. But how much interest can a team with 20 straight losing seasons generate, despite the fact they have what is commonly thought of as the best ballpark in Major League Baseball? Needless to say I have no clue if the Pirates are even playing tonight. (Yes, they are. I just checked the P-G and they are playing Arizona. Is it on TV? That is a completely different question.)

Frankly, I have been stuck at the hotel. I have been working and attending meetings. That is what I am here for. However, from what I can see from my very schnazzy corner suite Pittsburgh is a very beautiful city. I have a view of what is apparently called “the Triangle”: on one side I can see the iconic “three rivers” and the other side I have a nice view of the downtown core. I can see both Heinz Field and PNC Park, which are across the river. The city is very hilly — mountainous by Midwestern standards. On the trip into the city on Interstate 279 I could not even tell I was in a city. The number of lanes increased and there were a few more interchanges, but the hills and thick foliage obscured any sense of a major metro area. The exit numbers continued to fall and I thought, “The city has to be somewhere around here.” After rounding a curve it emerged:


Boom! There it was: downtown Pittsburgh. It came out of nowhere. I will definitely try to get away in the coming days to get a feel for the rest of the city. Before leaving I want to visit a vegetarian/vegan restaurant called Quiet Storm and a beer store called Beer World.

Speaking of beer, tonight I had a Yuengling. The verdict: it was totally not worth $3.75. Plus, it was served in a Guinness imperial pint. Weird.