EvBetPGH Down Under: Melbourne

Most of my journey to the other side of the world was spent in Sydney. But for a day and a half, Rob and I lived a much faster life (well, a bit slower on the half of that day we were really hungover) in Melbourne. 

I like Sydney. Don't get me wrong. But if someone forces me to move to Australia tomorrow, I'm heading straight for Melbourne. What Sydney lacked in color (i.e. graffiti and street art - I'm pretty sure this is a top-five thing I want in a city), Melbourne made up for a thousand times over.

We spent our first few hours in Melbourne eating lunch and checking out the Parliament building. We spent the next twelve hours drinking. This didn't surprise me one bit, as my friend in Melbourne, Evan, was one of my favorite drinking buddies in Boston. We traveled around the city on foot, having a drink and then moving on to the next place. The variety of the establishments we patronized along the way (hey, I have to try and made a bar crawl sound somewhat otherwise than that) was awesome. There was a wine bar, a rooftop bar, a riverside bar, an outstanding Thai restaurant (ChinChin, where my picky-eater self tried EVERYTHING set down in front of me), bars down slightly scary alleys, and our own private karaoke room (which we were only in for an hour, but by the time we left it looked like we'd been partying in there all night). We ended our night a little after 2 a.m. down on the pier near Evan's apartment, hanging out with the wild penguins who live in the rocks. The whole day and night was an excellent use of our time. 

The next morning? A little rough. 

But once we managed to get ourselves (somewhat) together and put some food (and Gatorade) in our bellies, Rob and I set off to wander around the city and see what we could before our flight that evening. We saw a lot of awesome graffiti, something I saw practically none of in Sydney.

We saw this dragon, made of plastic bottles, in Chinatown:

We also saw this warning sign about the trams that go up and down the Melbourne streets:

The analogy here is that getting hit by a tram would be like getting hit by a rhino on a skateboard. Australia, I adore you.

We also saw this fellow, not really sure what he was doing other than standing around?

Something we did not see, though we did try and find, are featured in the following videos.

I'll guess I'll just have to go back and find those two next time. And I do hope there will be a next time! Melbourne seemed like my kind of place, and I would love to explore it more. A big thank you to Evan and Nary, who showed us an awesome time for the short time we had there. I leave you with photobooth pictures the four of us took, probably near hour seven or eight of drinking. They are an awesome indication of the night we had in Melbourne. 

Pens Stanley Cup Playoffs 2012: v. Flyers, Game 4

Well. OK! That was a lot different than the first three games! It was hard to be positive at the beginning of this game, but sitting there at the bar at the Map Room in Regent Square, something happened. It was like I instinctively knew they couldn't lose. Because if they did, they were done. And then it's just an incredibly long (and likely losing (sorry!)) season of Pirates baseball. So, they had to win. They HAD to win.

And they did.


Allie and I made friends with the guy sitting to my left. His name was Mike, and he was an interesting and awesome Pittsburgh character to talk to. He'd done some time in Boston too, and lived in a couple other cities I've visited to on my North American travels. He lives in Regent Square now, flips houses around the city and suburbs, and seems to really love being back. We gushed about how good it felt to be home finally.

With every goal the Pens scored, our little corner of the bar became more and more involved in each other's conversations. We were enjoying the company of mostly strangers. We were high-fiving and cracking jokes. Mike bought us a round of beers. I might never run into him again, but for the duration of the hockey game, we were total buds.

I rode my bike home from Regent Square overcome with that "love of Pittsburgh" feeling I get sometimes.

Let's go Pens.

The World's Heroes and Pittsburgh's Oldest Bar

This winter has been a tricky thing. Earlier in the fall a Post Gazette article warned of a brutally awful winter season, but so far, we've had two really cold days and just a smattering of snow. Since the unofficial start of winter (which I just always place as December 1), I've only had to commute to work by bus twice (stupid smattering of snow!). In my book, this is an awesome alternative to some winters past. Keep the mildness and beautiful days coming!

This past Saturday was that perfect mild and beautiful day. After meeting Corey in the Strip at 21st Street Coffee and Tea (yum to the latte and yum to the much-needed-by-that-point blueberry muffin), we rode our bikes through the Strip, into downtown, and across the Warhol Bridge. Fittingly, our destination was the Warhol Museum, where we would take in the Alex Ross exhibit Heroes and Villians on its LAST DAY.


No photos were allowed inside, which is really a shame, because there were some pretty amazing paintings, treasures from his childhood (superhero figures made of construction paper!), and my new favorite superhero. Plastic Man!


Corey educated me on what we were seeing in the exhibit, which I much appreciated. I had no idea the world of comics could be so intensely beautiful. Unfortunately, we caught it on the last day it was in town. Otherwise, I would totally recommend everyone go.

After the exhibit, we rode a little deeper into the North Side to Deutschtown. On our last visit, the Park House hadn't opened for the evening yet. So we'd had this place on our minds for a month or so.

We stopped in, had a few beers, watched some football, and ate a bunch of peanuts.


Maybe this mildness in the early winter is lulling me into a trap. Come Late February when there is two feet of snow piled up outside and it doesn't ever seem like we'll see green again, I'll be looking back fondly on the early January day when I biked around all day in tights and a light hoodie.