Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh. I mainly came to Steel town due to my love of the Steeler's - the NFL team. I have been following them for years. Can't remember exactly how I started, but I do remember following them in the paper, then on the ABC with the hourly wrap hosted by Don Lane, and more recently through HD channel ONE. Some of you may know that I have taken Superbowl Monday off for the past 10-12 years.

Pittsburgh only gets about 1 in 4 days of sunshine, so I haven't been out much. As usual, I did a double-decker bus tour as my first objective. Here is some info supplied by the tour guide. The Ferris Wheel, Big Mac, Banana Split, the Ring-Pull Can, and the Root Beer Float were all created here in Pittsburgh. Venice, Italy, is known as 'The City of Bridges' because it has 443 bridges. Pittsburgh has 446. It also 700+ public staircases, with over 400 of them actually having street names. This sometimes causes issues for GPS units ! One of it's main streets, East Carson, has 101 establishments in a 15 block stretch that serve alcohol. This is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

They are currently filming the new Batman movie here. It is the reason I am unable to do a tour of Heinz Field. There have been some rather well known movies shot/set in Pitt - here are just a few;

The Next Three Days (Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson and Brian Dennehy)
Rock Star (Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Aniston)
Stigmata (Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Pryce)
Dogma (Ben Affleck, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, Matt Damon, Kevin Smith, George Carlin)
Kingpin (Bill Murray, Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid)
Independence Day (Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Randy Quaid)
Groundhog Day (Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell)
Silence of the Lambs (Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn)
RoboCop (Peter Weller)
Flashdance (Jennifer Beales)
All the Right Moves (Tom Cruise, Lea Thompson, Craig T Nelson)
The Deer Hunter (Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Merryl Streep)
Slapshot (Paul Newman)
The Rat Race (Tony Curtis, Debbie Reynolds, Don Rickles)
Some Came Running (Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Dean Martin)

I'm sure you all could easily find many more.

Heading out tonight. Went to an 80's night last Thursday that was pretty good. Met some people who suggested tonight's venue. Hoping it's just as good.

ciao