You Know What It Is: Top 5 Stops in the Black and Yellow City

Pittsburgh Skyline from Duquesne Incline

BLACK AND YELLOW BLACK AND YELLOW BLACK AND YELLOW. Surprisingly, even in 2017 this song is still heard blasting from cars around the city of Pittsburgh. That’s probably because this city has a lot to be prideful of, but sadly only one hit song written about them.

Pittsburgh is known as “The Steel City,” because of its rich history as a leader in the American steel industry. Although, today there are no actual steel mills left in the city, it is still home to hundreds of bridges made from steel. Most notably, the “sister” bridges which are a trio of identical suspension bridges crossing over the Allegheny River named after important Pittsburgh residents: Roberto Clemente, Andy Warhol and Rachel Carson.

Over the past year, I’ve had the chance to visit Pittsburgh twice to visit my boyfriend’s sister who is studying at University of Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, both visits have had to be relatively quick weekend trips but we’ve been able to fit a whole lot of Pittsburgh into just a few days.

Here are my top 5 must-see’s so far:

Duquesne Incline

This is probably the #1 sight-seeing stop you must make (see top photo). Take a ride on the old cable car up to the top of the incline to take in the view of the entire city. It’s a great view, and especially at night when the whole city is lit up! Just a heads up that this is considered a part of their city transportation system, so it uses the same fare system and costs adults $2.50 each way.

Point State Park

Point State Park

This park serves as the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet and form the Ohio River. It’s also a great place to hang out, go on a walk, or have a picnic by the giant fountain with great views of the city, the steel bridges, and the Pittsburgh Steelers Football Stadium. The park is also home to the remains of two of the oldest Fort’s in Pittsburgh, Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne which are outlined in the grass.

Mattress Factory

No, they don’t make mattresses or sell them. This is actually a contemporary art museum that features site-specific installations created from artists around the world. The installations change often, so even if you go once the next time you go might be a completely different set-up. The installations were all really unique and interesting. My favorite from our visit was one called IRIS_SIRI which explored the idea of the internet and screen time and used a lot of cat references. Click here to see images from the display! The factory is $20 per adult.

National Aviary

National Aviary

If you don’t like birds, stay clear of the National Aviary, as it is home to the nation’s premier bird zoo. As a lover of all animals, I thought this aviary was great. The birds fly-free and there are a lot of hands on activities. They also have an adult sloth, and (when we were there) a baby sloth. Admission is $15 per adult, and some activities like hand feeding birds or live bird shows cost a few dollars extra.

Cathedral of Learning

Located on the University of Pittsburgh campus is one of the city’s most beautiful buildings, The Cathedral of Learning. I highly recommend taking a walk around the inside of the building as it’s beautiful inside. They also offer the option to take a tour of their nationality classrooms which are about thirty classroom all designed and decorated to represent a different culture. Make sure to check their tour availability before arriving, as these are active classrooms during the school year!

Cathedral of Learning

BONUS: If you happen to be visiting during the first week of December, check out the Lawrenceville Cookie Walk! The Cookie Walk is literally a dream come true where you get to walk down a single street and have a cookie from over 40 local businesses. We happened to be in Pittsburgh this weekend in 2016 and were able to take part of this amazing opportunity to stuff our face full of an unreal number of cookies. For more information, visit their website here!

Pittsburgh is also filled with delicious food. Make sure to visit Primanti Brothers, which is a sandwich shop that originated in the city. They’re most famous for their “Almost Famous” sandwiches. If you’re looking for breakfast, check-out Pamela’s Diner and order some of their delicious pancakes!

Our trips also included stops to the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh Zoo, Phipps Conservatory and Penn’s Brewery. Check back to see our thoughts on those stops!

Hopefully, in a future visit we can get into a Steelers or Pirates game, and fit in a trip to the Heinz Museum! Until then…