Mr Sophie grew up in PIT - but has not lived there in 25 years. We are heading up this weekend (with another couple) for a nostalgic look @ "Lite Up Night". This will take up Friday night (dinner at the Grand Concourse, too)

There appear to be so many new (to us) museums, etc in town - anyone have any recommendations of thing to see and do? The other couple has never been - so we have planned The Strip District & The Mt Washington Incline, but are open to other suggestions.

As it appears it will be quite cold, (and we are a bunch of southern sissies) INDOOR recommendations would be particularly appreciated.

TIA -

Besides the Strip District and Mt. Washington, there's the shops in Station Square, the Warhol Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Science Center, and the Heinz History Center. The History Center also has the Western PA Sports Museum.

If you want to drive a decent distance, there's Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob, two Frank Lloyd Wright homes.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust always has shows and such scheduled as well.

Links are:

Station Square: www.stationsquare.com
Carnegie Museums: www.carnegiemuseums.org/
History Center: http://www.pghhistory.org/index.aspx
Fallingwater: http://www.fallingwater.org/
Kentuck Knob: www.kentuckknob.com/
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust events: http://www.pgharts.org/events/index.aspx

For one of your evenings, a restaurant on Mt. Washington with a lovely view of the Point, the sports stadiums and the river: Monterey Bay Fish Grotto, www.montereybayfishgrotto.com.

My favorite Pgh spot is unfortunately not an option for you this time of year: PNC Park -- night games offer a lovely view of the city's skyline, and they do some of the best fireworks of any baseball field I've visited!

There are all sorts of restaurants on Mt. Washington, so if seafood isn't your thing, don't worry--you can find something.

http://pittsburgh.about.com/od/resta...Washington.htm

There are many other neat things that you can see while in Pittsburgh-- such as a brewpub in a former church (Church Brew Works), the nationality rooms at the University of Pittsburgh, etc.

Do you (or anyone in your group) have any particular interests besides Museums? (Kipper covered those pretty well.) We'll be happy to chime in with more specific ideas.

Church Brew Works isn't bad food or beer-wise and it is very neat to see. There are also other beer-related options, including Penn Brewing (German food in their brewpub, IIRC), and The Sharp Edge.

First - thank you all very much; these are great ideas and we will make use of them.

They almost work perfectly with the timing too - Fri will be nostalgia day (old neighborhood and all that stuff); Sat we can do the Strip District and Carnegie Museum with a stop at Church Brew Works; and Sun we will have brunch, then do the Incline, Heinz History Center and Sports Museum - then head home. Or something to that effect.

Will let you know how it goes, and again - thank you!

While you're in the Strip District, be sure to visit Primanti Bros.

I hope it's ok to post this....I've found the Pittsburgh forum on Tripadvisor to be pretty active. I'd type them up and check out some recent entries.

I posted there same date as here (not that I don't trust my fellow FT'ers, but....)

You beat me to it, Kipper. One of my students saw a band in the Strip last weekend... I recommended she hit Primanti's. She thanked me on Monday for the advice!

I love Primanti's. Their breakfast is also very good, and is fairly inexpensive.

Sophiegirl--after the trip, please let us know how you enjoyed it and what do ended up doing.

As requested; here is the trip report -

THURS PM - arrival and check into FS Airport Marriott. Disappointing stay -for those who are interested, check Marriott thread. Dinner @ Max & Erma's (it was late, we were close) which was decent, if not inspired but we did have great waitress. Took our friends (1st timers) up to Mt Washington.

FRI - Shopped the Strip which was great except for "blizzard" conditions. Late Lunch @ Church Brew House - best Onion Soup I have ever had. Went to Heinz Museum - very nice; 2 sports buff among us, so Sports Museum was particularly interesting. Checked into Renaissance - absolutely great hotel (known from a previous visit). Highly recommend. Dinner at Grand Concourse - great waiter; food above average but not superior - especially for the price. Beautiful building, view of the city, etc make it worthwhile. (also location of our 1st date - so....) Watched fireworks etc. Great day but cold. And snowy. Did I mention cold?

SAT - Nostalgia Day. Mr. Sophie drove us all over Pitt showing us "stuff" - both landmark (Cathedral of Learning, etc) and personal. Rode the Incline. Got stuck on Parkway for over an hour. (some things never change!) Lunch at Eat n Park (long story). Food and service was - well, Eat n Park. On to Cannonsburg to Sarris Candy. Yum. Dinner with friends.

SUN - Brunch at Ren. Over to PPG place to see Christmas Exhibits & Ice Rink. Close up of "Horne's Tree" and "Kaufman's" Clock. Walked the block around Macy's to see the windows. Parkway construction - so headed to the airport. Stuck in traffic once more.....

The airport saddened me. I remember the old one, and all the hoopla, excitement, etc for the new one. The shops were great, and it quickly became one of my favorite airports. Still nice - but feels like a ghost town. USAir club is huge - I can't imagine that it ever is crowded!

A great trip and thanks to all who made suggestions!

I forgot about PPG Place and the Christmas exhibits. We used to go there each year to see them wehn I was young. I think I may have to visit there this year. Thanks for bringing back good memories!