Sunday Adventures

Since the weather was nice for a second day in a row, I decided to hop on my bike and head over to Lawrenceville, one of the largest neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.  While this area can be broken down into Upper, Central and Lower Lawrenceville, most Yinzers treat it as one neighborhood.  Lawrenceville is named after Captain James Lawrence, a hero from the War of 1812 (Pittsburgh is filled with tons of American History).  Today it is one of the up and coming neighborhoods - a great place for hipsters (it is fairly flat) and a lot of new galleries and restaurants.  In pop culture news, some of the scenes from the movie Love and Other Drugs were filmed here.

Last night Maria, Nava and I headed out to Lawrencville to eat at Pusadee's Garden, a great small Thai restaurant that is BYO which made it totally fit in the AmeriCorps budget!!   The first time I went was with the Trempus family in the summer and the outdoor patio was open.  While driving down Butler Street I figured that I should check out the hood on Sunday. 

The plan was to stop by the Coca Cafe (another Trempus favorite) for breakfast, but the line was around the corner so I decided to go for a walk.  The NY Times article was not kidding when it said that this was one of the new hipster hang outs!  I wandered around for about an hour before I popped into 720 Music, Clothing, and Cafe.  I would love to make that my new secret coffee shop, but it was a bit too hipster for me and that is saying a lot as my old hang out was Big Bear Cafe.

Super Cool Pressed Tin Mailbox

There were a lot of small shops filled with vintage clothing and furniture, as well as some great small art studios.  

Glass artwork and glassblowing seems to be a big thing here in PGH.  I am feeling all inspired to take a class over at the Pittsburgh Glass Center.  I walked into The Atelier, a glass studio and gallery, and wanted to make the artist my new BFF.   She was great and her work was extraordinary - filled with glass mosaics and hand blown ornaments.  She also had some work from a local artist, Chris Galiyas who had a lot of tongue and cheek paintings like this one:

A little further down the road I came across this stained glass store.

A little further down the way I came across the Allegheny Cemetery which opened in 1845.  This 300 acre area of land has 15 miles of road that take you near some beautiful mausoleums and old buildings, not to mention a few war memorials.
 

I will be heading back in a few weeks to check out the 12th Annual Joy of Cookies Cookie tour.  While I won't be doing much shopping, I will be able to sample 34 different kinds of cookies and pick up a few new recipes along the way.