With a free afternoon last Wednesday, I wandered about the South Side Flats in Pittsburgh taking in the architectural contrast between the older, eclectic section full of bars, restaurants and tattoo parlors:
and the newer stretch anchored by American Eagle Outfitters’ corporate campus and home to the national chains synonymous with upscale affordability:
But in addition to the rather inviting wine bar where I ended up, my real destination was the old Hot Metal Bridge built to carry molten steel from the blast furnaces on one side of the Monongahela River to the steel mills on the other side.
Rachael flew into town the next day, and we went over to Ted’s Excellent Bike Repair where we played with Ted’s excellent dog, Bob, while Ted outfitted Rachael’s bike with new tires for the 330 miles of bike trail that lay between us and home. Ted is a sardonic pessimist, which meant we liked him a lot, and he’s also given to a bit of ironic flamboyance:
Together, Rachael and I continued with a bit of flaneuring; here she is tempted by the prospect of consuming more of her summer staple foodstuff:
but we ended up elsewhere. In our travels we happened upon an excellent-looking old bathhouse that was built out of paternalistic regard for the needs of local workers. Unfortunately, it was closed for the summer.
Befitting the city’s history, there is a fine looking Carnegie Library on the south side:
And an excellent Ukranian church:
and of course the de rigeur bank-turned-into-a-bar:
We had a great afternoon wandering about and then ended up meeting one of Rachael’s old college friends for dinner. As I’ve come to know Jen Carroll a bit better, I remain entertained by her characteristically antic volubility (which overwhelmed my sporadic forays into the contested conversational arena) but have also come to better appreciate the interesting and thoughtful person she is. With apologies to her, this is the only halfway decent shot I was able to get that evening (I share her reluctance about having a photo taken)
Hopefully we’ll see her and her boys in DC sometime soon, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be back in Pittsburgh before too long.
Born in Baltimore and raised in Cincinnati, I have lived on both coasts and driven back and forth across the country a number of times. I now have the "midlife opportunity" to do so on two wheels.
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