Ten Reasons Why Pittsburgh is Wonderful

After the horror stories my friends told me about how old and boring Pittsburgh is, I came to this city quite apprehensive about how much fun I was going to have. After nine weeks of living in Pittsburgh, I can safely say that my friends were wrong. Here are ten reasons why (in no particular order).

The Allegheny River

Building a raft and floating it down the Allegheny River for three days was one of the most memorable experiences in my life. I've never built something and then trusted it with my life. It was wonderful to finish such a big project, and get to spend three days on the peaceful Allegheny. There are so many peaceful places just outside of Pittsburgh, many people just don't get to venture out that far.

Bridges

Pittsburgh is a city of bridges. It's a lot of fun to see the multitude of industrial bridges crisscrossing the rivers on all sides. It's especially fun at sunset, or at night. Or during fireworks. Pittsburgh's bridges are beautiful.

Schenely Park

Pittsburgh has several large parks sprinkled amongst its many neighborhoods. My favorite was Schenely park. It had a fun 3 mile loop I would bike many afternoons. My favorite part about Schenely is the view. Pittsburgh is a beautiful city, and it's nice to know that such a great view was always just a short bike ride away.

La Prima Coffee


I finally found a good cafe in Pittsburgh. The best part is, La Prima is actually a coffee roaster. They have an industrial-style cafe on the strip that serves amazing mochas. They serve their cafe latte italian style--in glass mugs at a bar. The best part is the people at the La Prima warehouse are really nice. They gave us a tour of the place and a free bag of coffee just for stopping by after hours. I've never been greeting with such kindness from a coffee roaster.

The Strip


The Strip is the Pike Place Market of Pittsburgh, minus all of the flower stands and flying fish. It has fresh produce, plenty of people, and lots of asian stores. It's a great place to visit on a Saturday morning to get all sorts of goodies.

CMU Rooftops
There's something exciting about going on rooftops. Anu took me to the top of CMU's the very first day I got here, and I still remember them. It was so much fun to see CMU from such an interesting perspective.

Mt. Washington


Mt. Washington is a large hill (not mountain) just across the river (to the south) of downtown Pittsburgh. To get to the top, you take an incline (or furnicular). The view from there is gorgeous, both during the day and at night. I still haven't fulfilled my dream of going up there on a motorcycle, though...

Randomness


Pittsburgh is full of random stores and activities. Here are a few:

• A recycled bicycle store.
• Breweries in churches, hookah bars in churches, clubs in churches.
• City-wide water balloon fights.
• City-wide art shows.
• Amazing fireworks during and after baseball games.
• Free movie showings at Schenely park.
  

People

The best part about Pittsburgh though has been by far the people I've met. From roommates to labmates to random people I've bumped into on airplanes, everyone has been so open and welcoming. It's not often that you get to meet friends in Pittsburgh that you know you'll stay in touch with for a while. But here I think I've met at least one, hopefully a few.