Our Adventures in Pittsburgh - Part 2

Sunday morning we had another yummy breakfast - yogurt parfait with fresh mangoes and granola, orange bread and stuffed french toast and bacon. We said goodbye to the Inn and headed out for the day. We saw a bit of sunshine in the morning but it snowed again most of the day.

We headed towards the Squirrel Hill Tunnel to check out the Morrowfield building. My dad's grandfather was the architect and engineer of the building. It's built on a hill so that you enter the apartments from the back and the stores are on the first level in the front.

(Click on photo to view larger)

Main entrance on the front of the building.

The lobby. (It was locked so I took this photo through the glass.)

The front of the building.

We saw 2 of these on the sidewalk in front of the building.
Anyone know what these are?

The back of the building - where the parking is.

We then went to the National Aviary. It was under construction so a few exhibits were closed. The perk to this was that admission was half price. We loved seeing the birds up close and personal. The penguins were so entertaining but the open room with the birds flying around was something we've never experienced before.

Green winged Macaw

Hyacinth Macaw

Sea Eagle (huge!)

And friendly :)

Bald Eagle

The African Penguins were having fun flipping us with water.

Jason being brave.

Penguin feeding time

The woman in front fed them fish while the one in the back recorded what each penguin ate.

In the open room with all the birds.

The sounds were amazing and there were beautiful birds everywhere!

Some we were able to identify...
Pied Imperial Pigeons

Fairy Blue Bird

Others we couldn't - no sign available.
(Maybe due to the construction going on.)

Mandarin Duck
This bird made me laugh the way he kept tipping his head and looking at me.



Victoria Crowned Pigeon
(These 2 were having a great time swooping past people!)

White Headed Wattled Lapwing
(This one would chase people around and then run from them.)
And one video so you get an idea of how loud it was in there. :)

In another area were more birds...
Rainbow Lorikeets
Micronesian Kingfisher
Rhinoceros Hornbills

It was a wonderful experience and we'll definitely have to go again when we're back in Pittsburgh. We were there less than two hours, but we definitely thought it was worth the money spent!

We then headed back to Station Square for lunch and then the Duquesne Incline.

Inside the car - with the track in the background.

At the bottom looking up...

At the top looking down.

Panoramic view from right to left...

The station at the top.

Jason taking in the view (and freezing his eyes).

And then it was time to head home. :(

Dear Pittsburgh, thank you so much for your hospitality. We enjoyed the historical buildings and all the creative shops and restaurants. Your pot holes were a little unbelievable, but hopefully those will be taken care of before we get back. We promise to come back soon and visit a little longer next time. Thank you for the memories!

Final thoughts on Pittsburgh... the people there were truly some of the nicest, most helpful and welcoming people I've ever met. They love their city and are truly trying to make it a better place. (Dayton could take a lesson here.) Also, with all the shops we walked through, almost every one of them had Irish and/or Steelers items to sell. Usually both. I know St. Patrick's day is coming, but I've never seen so much Irish stuff for sale. I really had to resist buying so many things and settled on a pretty Celtic cross ornament. No, I didn't buy any Steelers items. My dad's family was Irish, so that part resonated with me while I was there. But I wonder how my dad made it out of Pittsburgh without forever being a Steelers fan.

Our Adventures in Pittsburgh - Part 1

For numerous reasons (that would probably seem boring to you so I won't go into it) we decided to just get away for a quick weekend for our anniversary this past weekend. We considered so many different places and ended up deciding we'd go to Pittsburgh. It's only 4 hours from Dayton and it's somewhere that Jason has never been, and I haven't been there in over 12 years. My dad's family is from Pittsburgh and Dad was born there (he grew up in Iowa though).

We went to tripadvisor.com to look for somewhere to stay and found The Parador Inn, a bed & breakfast that had almost all 5 star ratings. When we read that it was a Caribbean themed Victorian B&B we were sold. We spent another day deciding which room to stay in since they were all available. The B&B was everything we were expecting and so much more. We were completely enchanted by the Victorian house, antique furnishings, and the Caribbean accents.

I took so many pictures, I thought I'd let the pictures tell the story of our weekend. (Click on the pictures to see a larger version.)

Our room, the African Tulip

Coming out of our room looking down the stairs
At the front door looking up the stairs

The sitting room on the 1st floor

The sun room

The dining room

Pretty amazing house when there's 4 inches of snow outside! We definitely want to go back when it's nice out so we can see the beach. :)

There were so many eating places within walking distance from the Parador so we decided to walk to dinner to stay off the roads - which were getting worse from the snow. Ed, the owner of the Parador, recommended several places down the road. For dinner Friday night we decided to go to Nicky's Thai Kitchen. This was my first experience with Thai food, which Jason loves, and I really enjoyed it. (I actually like it better than Chinese or sushi.)

We were the only people in the dining room at first.

Our appetizer, spring rolls

Breakfast at the Inn was very good, yogurt parfaits with real blueberries and granola, baked bread, banana waffles, and bacon. Yummy!! The other guest staying there that evening was a preacher in Pittsburgh to speak at a local church. We had a great time chatting with Java (what a great name!) and his bow tie just added to character. Some people just leave an impression on you and he was one of them. :)

The Parador is on the North Side and everything we wanted to do was within a few miles. Of course we had to cross at least one river and use 279/376 to get everywhere. (If you've been there you know what I mean.) After breakfast we went to the strip for some shopping and lunch.

The strip was unbelievably busy with it being 30 degrees and snowing. I can't imagine how crazy it is in the summer time. We hit an antique store and spent over half an hour walking around. We then found the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company (also recommended by Ed). They had the most amazing cheeses, meats, olives, spices, sauces, pastas, etc. We ended up getting a combination of prosciutto and mozzarella and some Sicilian spiced green olives. These together were awesome!

We then found the Primanti Brother's sandwich shop and the place was packed! After standing in the doorway and realizing the line to get lunch wrapped around inside we decided to find another place to get lunch. We had been walking through slush for over an hour and we were damp and cold from the snow showers. Hopefully next time we'll be able to try their sandwiches that were featured on Man vs. Food.

We headed back to the bed & breakfast and walked down the street to a pizza place for lunch. Afterwards we crashed in front of the fire in our room and dried out. We then went to Station Square to catch the Monongahela incline, do some shopping and get dinner.

Inside the car looking towards the city

At the top of the incline

A panoramic view from right to left...

Us with Pittsburgh behind us

The little coffee shop we found at the top of the incline.

The city lights were coming on so I had to take a couple more pictures.

That's enough for now. For those of you who love Pittsburgh, I hope you're enjoying the tour. For those of you who haven't been there yet - I'm hoping this is inspiring you to visit. :)

More pictures and adventures tomorrow - the Morrowfield building (my great-grandfather designed and built this), the Aviary, and the Duquesne incline.