Snow

Yes. Snow. I mean, seriously?? England is basking in warm spring days and we have snow. And it was FREEZING in the wind, like majorly cold. So we postponed our trip to the beautiful Falling Water and headed into the city instead. Although not until maybe 2pm cos we had a lot of talking to do 😂 And Patricia had made up gift bags for us all so we had to open those and then wait for me to photograph everything 😂

Our first stop was City Books on the North Side. This is the oldest book store in Pittsburgh and is now owned by Heidi’s sister, Arlan. 

She moved it to a new premises and has set up up beautifully. The current window display references Senator Elizabeth Warren being told to stop talking in the senate which led to angry protests on Twitter (#andyetshepersisted). If you know me at all, you’ll know I am fairly interested in politics so I loved this display. 


The shop itself is STUNNING! Like heaven in my eyes. There was a ‘Blind date with a book’ display where I bought a book that I had guessed was one I had mistakenly given away when I moved. Can you guess what it is? (Answer at the bottom of the blog…)






There were also locally made candles there where the maker has used scents that should remind you of the book. I bought the ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ candle which was scented with mint and sweet tea. There were also a series of first editions there that Arlan found when she did a final sweep of the old premises! 


The book made us hungry (or maybe the late hour) so we headed to Giorgio’s round the corner as Kathy LOVES pizza! It was so yummy. The lady who served us was Italian and came over to the US in 1972. She said it was awful at first as the other children would ignore them or pick on them. They soon decided, though, that resorting to playground fights was the only way to sort things out and after that it was fine 😂

Heidi was really keen to show us the University of Pittsburgh, or Pitt. It was stunning! The tall building is the Cathedral of Learning where there are 30 rooms, each dedicated to a different nation. Unfortunately they had all been closed up 10 minutes before we arrived and there was NO WAY the ‘cheery’ man in charge was going to open them back up again. God forbid. 




The hall we were allowed into was beautiful, though, and had vaulted ceilings identical to Gothic cathedrals in Europe. We then popped over to the Heinz Chapel (no, I can’t believe it’s called that either) which is an imitation of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris that I saw (and fell in love with) in the summer (thank you for going there with me, Manue 😉).  The stained-glass windows were beautifully, and showed images of learning and women in education rather than religious images. 

Unbelievably I forgot to mention that before we went inside the university we went to the ‘Pitt Stop’ stall just outside. To be fair he got $5 out of me just for a lanyard but that man was HILARIOUS!! I don’t think he stopped talking the whole time we were there and obviously put on his ‘best’ British accent. He also mentioned Princess Diana like a hundred times 😂 He was so sweet, though, as he then gave me one of his Pittsburgh ‘Pitt Stop’ t-shirts to wear when I’m next in London. Bless him. And the hair that grew ON HIS EARLOBES 😱 

That night we headed uptown to Bistro 19. Fantastic food and even better company! Heidi and I bizarrely have a set of mutual friends called Diana and Vaughn who are also Pittsburghers (or ‘yinzers’ as Vaughn is very proud to call himself). I met Diana and Vaughn through Richard’s old housemate, James. He’s a massive Pittsburgh Steelers fan and comes out here fairly regularly. When the Steelers finally played a game in England the other big fans, Diana and Vaughn, came over to see them play. We met them in a particularly classy pub in High Wycombe (Wetherspoons) and spent the night talking about American politics 😂 They are the sweetest people and is was so great to see them last night. 








Our poor waitress found it kind of hard to get us to pay any attention to the menus as we were all talking non-stop. When we finally focused we ended up with some gorgeous food. We all shared/tried out a brussel sprout starter  (it was yummy, unless you ask Kathy 😉) then I had short ribs for entrée (how can entrée mean ‘main’, that makes no sense to me 😂). We shared a couple of bottles of prosecco and I got a salted caramel ice-cream dessert. Patricia and Diana/Vaughn got the sweet potato creme brûlée 😱 How is that even a thing?! It was actually quite nice but I don’t think I could have psychologically eaten the whole thing..).


So that was our snowy day in Pittsburgh. It was seriously bloody cold but is supposed to warm up at the weekend. 

Tomorrow we have the delights of the Frank Lloyd Wright design, Falling Water which I CANNOT WAIT to see, and then it’s on to Kentucky! Time is going so quickly! 
And the book is… Dante’s Divine Comedy.