Take a Walk: In the Snow

Last Sunday I had a lot of walking to do. I had to return something to Filmmakers. And then I had to trek from Bloomfield to Regent Square to meet up with Zack and Kate for an afternoon adventure. I didn't get past East Liberty though, as our exciting plans were sadly cancelled. I intended to take pictures throughout my snowy Sunday walk, but as I didn't get very far before turning back home, I only have a couple photos to share. Fortunately, they're both excellent.

Taken on Melwood, down the road from Filmmakers.

Robot on the Millvale Ave bridge into North Oakland.

Nice (PGH) Things That Look Good: January 2013

Oh, winter. You cold and dreary foe. The older I get, the more I hate winter. I really do not mind the cold, as long as I am moving (walking/biking) through it. But I hate snow. And I hate the fact that it gets dark early and is dark by the time I leave work. There's so much more time spent indoors due to the dark, which makes leisurely walks and long bike rides nearly impossible to accomplish until we spring forward on March 10.

If the weather report for the next week holds, today we should be experiencing temps in the mid-40s! Strange how in the fall when that happens for the first time it seems so cold. But when it happens in the winter, it feels like spring. Though the early darkness remains, it's been staying lighter a little longer each day.

Here are some colorful things I saw on a cold Sunday at the very end of 2012. Pittsburgh's bursts of color are a mood brightener in the midst of the grey skies of winter.

Owl on Butler Street.

Someone added colorful geometric wood blocks to the Roberto Clementes in Doughboy Square.

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. 

PGH Beautiful: Street Art and Graffiti on Friendship, August 2012

It's been a while since I posted some proper street art/graffiti discoveries. I'm striving to take more walks these days, which means possibly more of these posts to come.

First, another in the Friendship Ave stitchings series. My good pal Eric documented these on his blog recently too. 

Bird / Only You on Friendship near Nico's / Across the street from the funeral home parking lot.

I'm not mad, but where do you go late at night?

30 Before 30: The Color in Frick Park

And we're back in the park! One thing I've learned to love about hiking (even urban hiking like this) is finding the spots of color peppered in among the green. So here are the bits of color I found while wandering the woods.

I climbed up a bit to get this, but it was well worth nearly twisting my ankle on the way down.

Spending a few hours away from things by getting lost in Frick Park (but not too lost, it wouldn't take too long to walk to the edge of this forest). It was just me, my iPod and my camera. It was glorious.

Take A Walk: Blocks of Penn

I've been meaning to take more walks. I feel like I've neglected nice walks when there's nothing else to do. So I made a point to walk down to Target this past weekend along Penn. There had been a few things I wanted to capture on a list in the back of my mind. So, with the sun beginning to set, I took a walk.

Sun beating down on Gross Street.

If I had money to spend on such things, this map painting would be mine. Maybe one day.

Mural on the edge of the Quiet Storm.

A gallery on the side of a building.

Mental note: Take a glass blowing class.

Yes / No / Maybe (Friendship Ave Stitchings)

As a stitcher myself, these pieces of street art are pretty excellent to walk by going down Friendship Avenue by the park. Kudos to whoever is responsible!