Nine cool things about the Steel City

Fort Pitt Bridge and Downtown

Got back yesterday from six days in Pittsburgh (actually, more like 4 1/2 because of the roundtrip air travel) and, I've got to say, I was pretty impressed. The challenge now is how to condense all that sightseeing, culinary experiences and random observations into a single post.

I think a checklist is worth a shot, so here we go with nine cool things about the city:

1. The geography. Pittsburgh is defined by its three rivers -- the Allegheny from the northeast and the Monongahela from the southeast, together forming the Ohio River -- and its downtown area, known as the Golden Triangle. With its many bridges, hilly neighborhoods and thousands (millions?) of leafy trees, it resembles Portland, except that it's got more taller buildings.

2. The ethnic diversity. About 25 percent of the city's residents are African American. People of  German (19.7), Irish (15.8) and Italian (11.8) heritage account for sizable minorities. A far cry from Portland. The city also has a half-dozen universities, which draw significant numbers of international students. One neighborhood is called Polish Hill and it's next to Bloomfield, also known as Little Italy, which has parking meters painted red, white and green, in the colors of the Italian flag.

Sausages at The Strip

3. The neighborhoods. As in Portland, there's great variety. In addition to the two mentioned above, on the East End alone there's Lawrenceville, a working-class neighborhood undergoing an economic renaissance, similar to our Mississippi Avenue; Shadyside, an upscale area analogous to Laurelhurst; Squirrel Hill, home to the city's Jewish community; Oakland, where four universities create a student-centered business district; and the Strip District, a commercial/warehouse district at the end of historic Penn Avenue, with open-air vendors, restaurants and century-old family businesses, all reminiscent of San Francisco. There's also the South Side district, a gritty area of tattoo shops, thrift stores, dive bars and taverns, where late-night rumbles are common; and the North Side, home to various museums and professional sports fields.

4. The food. With little effort, we managed to gorge ourselves on Polish, Italian, Jewish, Japanese fusion and Thai cuisine and easily could have added Indian, French and Vietnamese if we'd wanted. Prices are lower and servers are just as, if not more, friendly than in Portland. You can have an elegant dinner with white tablecloth, an informal meal comprised of small plates or a monster sandwich from Primanti Brothers, where every sandwich on the menu is served on Italian bread with tomato, cole slaw and French fries stuffed in the middle. Unlike Portland, no food cart scene.

Photo credit: Chloester

5. The views. Riding the 133-year-old Duquesne Incline -- one of two remaining passenger lines of the city's 17 incline railways -- you get a fabulous view of the three rivers and downtown from Mount Washington (visualize yourself on Mount Tabor or Mount Scott). From the 36th floor of the Cathedral of Learning, the iconic 42-story landmark on the University of Pittsburgh campus, you get this fabulous view (above) of the Carnegie Museums and the Carnegie Mellon University campus. And from the ground level, I took a Sunday morning run across the 31st Street Bridge and found myself on the North Shore Trail, a shaded, gravel-and-dirt route bordering the Allegheny River that drew runners, walkers and bicyclists. I had to pause to admire the view of downtown and three bridges named for Roberto Clemente, Rachel Carson and Andy Warhol.

6. The universities. Imagine if Portland State, the University of Portland, Reed College and Lewis & Clark College were all situated along a single major boulevard. That's the Oakland district, stretching from Carlow University and Duquesne University (both Catholic universities) to the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Kind of like Boston-Cambridge, but on a smaller scale. Gives the city some young energy and intellectual heft. This week, yet another CMU alumnus was honored as a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics, making it 18 faculty members or graduates who've won the Nobel.

"Silver Clouds" / Warhol

7. The cultural life. We visited The Andy Warhol Museum and had a blast learning more about the life and work of Andrew Warhola (as he was known), a Pittsburgh native and Carnegie Tech graduate who went on to rock the art world with his pop art. Two days later, we indulged our senses of sight and smell as we toured the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, a steel and glass greenhouse which has operated since 1893 in the city's expansive Schenley Park. A roomful of exquisite orchids was worth the visit by itself. Had they been open and had we more time, we'd have hit the Carnegie Museums of Art, Science and Natural History, plus the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, one of more than 2,500 free libraries built worldwide with money from the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.

8. Steeler Nation. No doubt about it. This city loves its NFL football team. And who wouldn't? With six Super Bowl championships and a team whose nickname evokes the city's industrial history and blue-collar sensibilities, it's easy to see why civic pride runs so high. The Penguins, themselves winners of three National Hockey League championships, also are quite popular; it's not unusual to see a grandma wearing a 'Guins jersey. The Pirates? Despite their five World Series titles, they're a non-factor. Chalk it up to 18 consecutive losing seasons, including this year's 105 losses, worst in Major League Baseball. Too bad because they have one of the best parks in baseball. (Fun fact: Hall of Fame quarterbacks Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Joe Montana and Dan Marino all hail from the Pittsburgh area.)

Photo credit: MacYapper

9. Yinzers. Everybody's heard of "y'all" -- short for "you all" in Southern states. Bet you haven't heard the term "yinz." It means the same thing in Pittsburghese. Use of the second-person plural pronoun, according to Wikipedia, "has been interpreted as pejorative, indicating a lack of sophistication." In other words, if you're a local yokel and into everything that defines working-class Pittsburgh -- greasy food, bowling, smoking, tattoos, the Steelers -- you're a Yinzer.