We drove from Erie to Pittsburgh. The drive was uneventful, except for a few seconds of sun. The colours in the trees would have been quite pretty with a blue sky and sunshine, but we still haven’t seen anything prettier than Switzerland in autumn. (I’ll have to post some of my autumn photos when I get home.)
Pittsburgh surprised us; the approach is very green, with almost everything hidden in the trees. Then comes a road tunnel, and you’re suddenly downtown. Our motel described itself as ‘minutes from downtown’ in the brochure. We expected to be in walking distance of the centre. The description was fairly accurate; the motel really was about 10 minutes from downtown – at crazy speeds on the freeway! (Everyone here seems to take the speed limit to be the lowest speed you’re supposed to drive.)
Downtown had impressed us so much as we drove past that we decided to return for dinner. The information in the motel suggested that Grandview would be a good place to head to find a restaurant and enjoy a good view, so we drove back into town. I had a route carefully planned, to take us to the Duquesne Incline, a cog railway up Mount Washington to Grandview. We found the Duquesne Incline without problem, but finding a place to park turned out to be much more difficult. Following the parking signs, when we eventually found them, took us through a tunnel, which suddenly left us in the middle of nowhere. We then drove around, trying to work out where we were, and eventually found a garage where we could ask for directions. We ended up on Grandview itself, and parked in what seemed to be a no parking zone which everyone ignored. I hoped for the best, and we went into the Georgetowne Inn, which has a spectacular view of downtown:
The food was excellent, and the service good. It also cost us rather more than anywhere else we’ve eaten; the panorama obviously enables them to charge Swiss prices! We can highly recommend the Georgetowne Inn if you’re in Pittsburgh. The food and view are worth the price.