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.
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