Pittsburgh Looks Even Better from the River

Last night we got a chance to see Pittsburgh from the Allegheny River aboard the Gateway Clipper. This huge party boat has four levels and is plenty big for hundreds of PR pros and tourism board people to mix with a handful of journalists while chugging up the river.

I heard more than a few people comment on this city. "The surprising thing for me is how nice it is here," said a woman from California. "I just never knew Pittsburgh was so pretty and had so much. " Indeed, this meeting was a coup for the one-time steel city, where nobody has heated steel for more than 20 years. Still, it's hard to shake that reputation of dirty, noisy, old city.

The river was indeed pretty as the sunlight glinted off the water, and we passed the Duquesne Incline, a famous attraction, that I would call a funicular. It rises up from the river level high up into a hillside neighborhood. People have ridden this for decades, and everyone here loves it.

After the cruise, we all fanned out throughout the city for a 'dine around' and I ended up at Elevens, an high-end place that was recommended by about five locals. It was the first place anybody mentioned when I asked about fine dining. The chicken was excellent, and our waiter had a very strong French accent, which was fun.

I sat at a long table with about 13 others and across from me, a tall beautiful woman from Arizona said that she once dated a billionaire when she was in college. She said he was a scruffy young scion of a steel magnate, and drove a beat up pick-up truck. It only lasted a few months---they broke up when he kept wanting her to blow off her exams, telling her that she would never have to work if she married him. So she said so long.