pittsburgh

Kurt and I recently took a weekend trip to his childhood home in Ohio to meet up with Claudio and Manuela as part of their US tour. Before heading to Ohio, we took a quick stop in Pittsburgh for a short, rainy tour of the downtown.

Our first stop was lunch. Whenever I am exploring a new city, I always consult Design Sponge's city guides for insider tips. They're always super helpful and DS has a collection of tons of cities. Such a good resource! The first thing that caught my eye on the Pittsburgh guide was Church Brew Works, a church turned brew pub.

I'll admit I felt a few pangs of Catholic guilt seeing brewing tanks in place of the altar, but they quickly subsided once Kurt and I realized how awesome the place was. I've never seen anything like it!

We settled into a table and ordered a few beers from their house brewed menu. I tried the Celestial Gold while Kurt tested out the Pious Monk Dunkel. All their beers had similarly "holy" names. Check out the list here. (You better believe that glass legitimately got added to Kurt's collection.)

When in Pittsburgh, you must get some pierogies. 

Kurt and I also split a wild boar wrap. We're suckers for quirky menu items :) It was really good!

Nearby the church, we saw a sign for Iron City Brewing Co. and thought we would check it out. Turns out the office is only used for marketing and design, but the nice guy that was working there chatted with us for a minutes and then offered us free samples! He was extra proud of this new/old beer they were beginning to produce because he designed the can. He gave us a couple cans and koozies and we were on our way. Such a funny interaction!

Thanks, Iron City!

Walk along the water to admire the "City of Bridges".

We were such hobos that we took our beers down to the river to enjoy them :) They were going to get warm!

Steelers Stadium across the river

We decided to try out the subway for kicks. Several stops around downtown are free!

We did some wandering around the Strip District and got coffee at 21st Street Coffee and Tea.

Eventually we had to be on our way to Ohio, but I enjoyed our short time in PA. Pittsburgh was nice but was kind of exhausting to walk around. Its got some good potential, but things are still a little spread about. Despite the hills, I think we should explore on bikes next time to cover more ground. 

Next up: O-H-I-O :)