Pittsburgh City View, Pittsburgh Incline & Le Mont Restaurant Review

A couple of weeks ago during our Pittsburgh trip, Dale & I were told that Pittsburgh was rated #1 or #2 for the Best City View in North America, and USA Today rated it as one of the top ten views of a cityscape in the world. You can view USA Today's top ten list of  city skylines here.
We were told to go up the incline on the hillside to see the view.

So we took a quick cab ride from the Sheraton Station Square we stayed at over to the Duquesne Incline

Me in front of the incline

That's pretty neat how old this incline is. Since 1877!!
I love getting to know the historical part of a city.

(My zebra french manicure here is from this post) 

This is the inside of the Incline car

Looking up at the tracks

As we're going up you can already see a beautiful view of the city. 

Can you see Heinz Field stadium straight ahead? 

Here's a close up:

Heinz Field stadium is where the famous Pittsburgh Steelers Football team plays 

I would love to experience a football game in that stadium - I heard a lot about Steelers fans ;)

A view of downtown Pittsburgh 

Looking down at the Incline tracks 

At the top of the incline is a nice quaint neighbourhood. 

There are several outlook places to take in the beautiful view....there's also numerous restaurants too. 

Pittsburgh's only 5 star Diamond Award Restaurant, Le Mont Restaurant is located up on the hillside 

*****

Dale took me to Le Mont Restaurant for a nice Easter dinner 

(we extended our vacation, thus missing out on our Easter dinner plans at my parents place)

The ambiance at Le Mont Restaurant is very classy. 

And the view of the city from the restaurant is spectacular. Over the course of dinner we saw the beautiful sunset over Pittsburgh and then the city lights came on. 

Here's a couple of pictures of me in the restaurant

Overall, I would only recommend Le Mont Restaurant if you're looking for a classy place with a nice view of the city. If you're not concerned about a posh environment, then skip this restaurant. 

My complaints about Le Mont Restaurant were the Maitre d' and the food. 

First, the Maitre d' wasn't up on things. Dale asked for a certain bottle of wine and the Maitre d' went to see if it was still in stock since he said it's a popular choice and they might be out of it. That's fine. So the Maitre d' came back to us and said indeed the wine requested was sold out. The Maitre d' went on to suggest an alternative wine which was more than three times the price of the bottle we initially requested. Like WTF?! Why would you suggest a wine that is so much more higher in price? The restaurant has an extensive wine list so couldn't he use a bit more common sense and make a couple of alternatives within the same price range? Sheesh. On top of that, there's a note on the top of their wine list about how they have a top sommelier; well, Dale immediately picked up an error on their wine list  - one of the wines was not placed in its proper category. We mentioned it to the Maitre d' and he couldn't give us an answer nor did he seem to care to do anything about the error. Anyways, so I excused the Maitre d' and told him Dale and I would look over the wine list again. In the meantime I asked if there was herbal tea and the Maitre d's response was, "oh we have selection of Lipton tea bags." Really?!! Lipton tea bags? LOL  Okayyy, you're the only rated Five Star Diamond Restaurant in the city and you don't offer loose leaf tea or at least a better brand of tea?? *shakes head* Even the crappy grocery store near me has a selection of loose leaf teas. I didn't actually say that since that's rude, so I just asked him to bring me some fresh peppermint tea leaves in hot water. 

At that point our main waiter came around to us (yay!) and Dale & I were really pleased with our waiter, Brian. He was super nice and get this: Dale mentioned to him that the wine we initially wanted was out of stock. Brian told us he'd double check and voila, he came out with a bottle of the wine we had initially asked for (the one the Maitre d' said was "out of stock"). 

Towards the end of our meal, we asked our waiter Brian if he would be able to call a taxi for us. If there's one thing I do not like about Pittsburgh it's the severe lack of cabs. Brian said there wouldn't be many cabs running on Easter at that hour so he offered us a lift in his own car down to the other incline. Isn't that so nice of him?! 

As for the food at Le Mont Restaurant, I had ordered the Gulf Shrimp Cocktail and the Veal Piccata.  Dale and I shared the Carrot Cake and Cheesecake deserts. 

Personally I thought the food was mediocre. The traditional shrimp cocktail at Bubba Gumps in New York City was soooo much better than the shrimp cocktail at Le Mont in terms of freshness and hence taste. The Veal Piccata at Le Mont did not impress me at all and I love veal. 

Dale & I agreed the cheesecake was lacking something - and we both love cheesecake. Like, how can you go wrong with cheesecake?! But the carrot cake was great. Dale says the carrot cake at Costco is the best and joked with our waiter Brian that Le Mont should buy some cheesecake from Costco along with the carrot cake they get from there (Le Mont doesn't get their carrot cake from Costco but according to Dale they taste identical)

*****

So our waiter Brian dropped us off at the other incline, the Monongahela Incline (can you pronounce that?!) 

It's such a spectacular view of Pittsburgh city up on the hillside. 

I highly recommend anyone visiting Pittsburgh to go up one or both of the inclines. The daytime view is just as beautiful as the nighttime view. I would suggest maybe heading up the incline late afternoon/early evening to see the view of the city in daylight, go for a walk and have dinner at one of the restaurants up there while the sun sets over dinner. After dinner and perhaps another walk, you can catch a night view of the city before you take the incline back down. 

Dale thinks the only other city that could match Pittsburgh's cityscape view is Seattle, which I would love to visit someday soon. 

Isn't the view of the Pittsburgh city so pretty? 

It's really something to see in real life.

Have you ever been on an Incline before?

What was the last city you had a nice view of? 

PNC Park Pittsburgh & a bit of Red Sox Love

Over the five nights we spent in Pittsburgh, Dale took me to four baseball games. Yay! :)

I know the Pittsburgh Pirates are nothing to write home about - just ask anyone from Pittsburgh. 

But the PNC Baseball Park in Pittsburgh is arguably one of the most beautiful ball parks in America. It's absolutely stunning with a fantastic view of the Pittsburgh skyline, the beautiful Clemente bridge in the background and if you sit high enough you can see part of the Allegheny river too.

The Pirates were playing pretty decently at the games we saw them at actually - three games against the Washington Nationals and one game against the San Francisco Giants (they have a great pitcher). I wouldn't have known the Pirates were that bad of a team if it weren't for all the empty seats it the stadium :S

Dale's a huge Boston Red Sox fan. 

I know pretty much nothing about baseball, but Dale's getting me onto the Red Sox side. Plus, he bought me some Red Sox gear so I decided to wear it to the Pirates game. So we both showed some love for the Red Sox at the Pittsburgh games LOL 

This was my outfit for one of the games - it was raining at this particular game:

Baseball cap & t-shirt: Boston Red Sox gear

Jeans: Almost Famous (which I talked about in this post)

Bracelet: Aldo Shoes

Heels: Charlotte Russe (the floral ones - close up in this post)

Isn't PNC Park beautiful?! 

I mean, look at how you can see the Pittsburgh skyline from our seats and the beautiful yellow coloured Clemente bridge. You can even see the river.

And now you can see how many seats are empty at a typical Pirates home game....

Honestly, the few of the workers at the baseball park that we ran into remembered Dale & I during the four games because there just aren't many people going to the games. 

The night view of the city is just as stunning as it is during the daytime although my camera didn't capture the beauty of it - the strong baseball field lights didn't help the picture either. 

See what I mean about the empty seats? 

Mind you, Dale got us the club lounge seats at all the games. They were great because you have access to this large club lounge which is very nice inside. And you don't have to worry about the weather - like if it starts raining you can just head into the club lounge until the rain ceases. 

So, you know what PNC Park does to try to entice people to come to the games? 

They give out free souvenirs on certain nights and they even have fireworks after certain games later in the summertime. Ooo fireworks! I know a lot of sporting events give out free souvenirs here and there but it's much more so at PNC Park. I got a free Pirates t-shirt, an Andrew McCutchen figurine (I love how he steals bases!) and a cup sleeve.

Okay so I was told that the San Francisco Giants are a pretty good baseball team. One of their pitchers is really good! So the turn out to this game was better - as you can see, there are more people at this game 

Me outside of PNC Park. 

Jacket: Guess 

Speaking of Guess, when Dale & I went to Atlantic City for an overnight trip during our New York trip, I went into a G by Guess store. I love the style of clothes in the G by Guess store more than the regular Guess store! Too bad there aren't any G by Guess stores in Canada though :( 

I feel so lucky that Dale brought me to four baseball games during our trip. 

I must say I developed a new soft spot for the Pirates and I'm absolutely in love with PNC Park!! 

I highly recommend checking out a baseball game if you're visiting Pittsburgh. Plus, it's a bonus that the Pirates aren't that great of a team since the baseball tickets are priced at an affordable rate considering how beautiful PNC Park is. 

Are you a fan of baseball? 

Do you have any special plans this weekend? :)

My First Live Hockey Playoffs Game

Another city Dale took me to during our trip the past couple of weeks was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I visited Pittsburgh for the first time last August with my family but it was just a day trip (you can read my post on it here). This time, Dale & I stayed in Pittsburgh for five nights so I got to know the city a lot more :) 

AND I am in love with Pittsburgh as a city!
Dale loves this city too so it works out :)  

It's a great city for sports, shopping, dining, the building architecture downtown is beautiful, the waterfront is gorgeous, and the hillsides and bridges just add to the aesthetics. Plus, the people we met in Pittsburgh were very friendly. 

Dale & I were joking about moving out there. It would be lovely to have a Spring/Autumn house in Pittsburgh since their Spring weather is warmer than Toronto and in the Autumn the leaves changing colour along the hillside would just be gorgeous

Sooo, one of the very memorable things during our trip was Dale taking me to see my first live NHL Hockey Playoffs Game! Yay!!! 

Dale bought us fantastic seats last minute through Stubhub 

(Stubhub is a great site for concert/sporting event tickets by the way....unlike Ticketmaster - I might be writing an upcoming post about dealing unpleasantly with Ticketmaster). 

Dale wanted to make it special for my 1st hockey playoffs game so he got us centre ice tickets second row :)  I honestly feel so lucky to have Dale in my life. 

It was the Saturday April 23rd game with Pittsburgh Penguins vs Tampa Bay Lightning 

This game would have been interesting if the home team Pittsburgh Penguins won - because they were up 3 games in the series, meaning they would win the series over Tampa Bay if they won this game. 

But the Penguins are not the same without their two best players on the team - Sidney Crosby (our golden child from Canada!!) and Evgeni Malkin. Both Crosby and Malkin were not playing due to injuries. 

And to be honest, after seeing both teams play during the first period I wondered to myself how the Penguins had even won 3 games already. Honestly, they're not a good team without Crosby and Malkin. And Tampa has a lot of talent. So I'm really not surprised Tampa not only won this game we saw but also ended up winning the series. 

So if I haven't lost you yet in my hockey ramble, here are some pictures from game day:

That's me in front of the Consol Energy Center where the hockey arena is in Pittsburgh.

It's a very nice arena and our seats got us into the club lounge area which is very nice.

I decided to try to wear the team colours - black, white and a bit of yellow-ish

Top: Sirens

Belt: Urban Behaviour

Skirt: H & M

Heels: Bebe ("Naina Peep Toe Pump")

Head band: Saks 5th

We were just a couple of seats away from the penalty box. It was a neat experience :)

Omigosh, look at how awful the score was at the start of third period. Although the huge stadium was packed, it was quiet. It started to look bad after 3-0...then 5-0 was pretty darn bad...but 7-0???! For a team that was up three games in the series?! And a home game at that?! Eek.

Okay, so that was the final score for this game: 8-2. 

I have a soft spot for the Pittsburgh Penguins now since I'm in love with their city....but, Tampa deserved to win the series. Unlike so many other teams (ah hem the Canadian Men's Junior Hockey Team) that would slack off after being ahead so many goals, the Tampa Bay Lightning team did not slack off at all. They played hard the whole game even though they were up seven points at one point. That is what I call a strong team because too many teams get too cocky and slack. 

So Tampa's got talent and it'll be interesting to see how they make it through the rest of the playoffs. Hey, they already won the series against the Washington Capitals

I hate to say it because I want a Canadian Team to take the Stanley Cup home, but this year it'll be an American team taking it home. If it was between Montreal and Vancouver to represent Canada in the playoffs I would rather it have been Montreal because I feel they have much better control of the puck than the Vancouver Canucks. Sorry Van fans - if you can get past Nashville Predators (not a winning team) I don't think you'll get past the next series. 

Any NHL Playoff predictions on your part?

What's your favourite sport to watch?

NYC hotel recommendation: Sheraton Towers (not The Element)

This is a comparison review of The Element Hotel in New York City (by Westin) and The Sheraton Towers Hotel in New York City 

Dale first booked us for four nights at The Element Hotel in NYC. He had not stayed there before during his previous NYC trips but he read that it's a new hotel and we both liked the "green"environmentally friendly concept that the hotel was portraying

Okay, I can see how they're trying to be green with the soap dispensers in the shower (vs individually bottled shampoo/shower gel) and how the shampoos and soaps were eco-friendly. The suites are equipped with a small kitchenette which is nice - but, in our suite (& probably numerous others in that hotel) everything was so compact they put the television in the middle of the room on a tabletop beside the study desk. The tabletop was too narrow for the TV and it is very easy to tip over the TV. It was a stupid set up. Can't you put the TV on a ledge that is wide enough to hold it and preferably have the back of the TV against a wall? 


The TV issue was not the make it or break it for me. Nor was the not-so-welcoming check in counter desk. The front lobby is also quite small in comparison to other hotels I have stayed at. The problem with that is that instead of holding their complimentary breakfast at the back part of the lobby, they hold the breakfast at the front part of the lobby. Great. Now you have tons of people trying to grab free breakfast and hence not much room for those lining up to check in or check out or talk to concierge at front desk, and then there's barely enough room to line up for their inefficient elevators. 


Elevators. That was where I drew the line. 
There appeared to be only one functional elevator out of the three or four in total - to serve 40+ floors. The first time I stepped into the elevator I noticed how old it was - and although the hotel is "new", it's a renovated older building....and the old, smaller elevators make it very obvious. Fine. 
Dale & I took the elevators down the first morning during the complimentary breakfast hours. What a mistake. Again, only one elevator seemed to be functioning. And by functioning, I mean moving. We waited a good several minutes for our elevator and we were staying on a top floor. The elevator was already half full when we got in. It stopped on nearly every floor after us. Several floors down, a family of three tried to squeeze in what little room was left. They apologized saying they passed on the 1st elevator that came by because it was too full, and then ended up waiting 20 minutes for this elevator which they didn't want to give up (or else they'd have 30+ flight of stairs to walk and they were with a young child). The problem was the elevator ride going down from there. I was so scared because we were around maximum capacity and the elevator was not running smoothly. It had many jolts. There were a few times the elevator door was suppose to open but it did not. I actually wanted to get out and just walk down the flight of stairs because I was starting to panic a bit but the doors would not open when they were suppose to. And a couple of times the elevator stalled and stopped for a bit. Anyways, I refused to take the elevator back up again and Dale could see how stressed out I was about the situation. It's a safety hazard. I did report the dysfunctional elevator to staff and just the elevator problem in general but I'm not sure what they would/could do about it. 
Dale was a real sweetheart and understanding. He immediately called up the more reputable Sheraton Towers Hotel that he usually stays at in New York City and booked us there right away. 


Also, complimentary breakfasts are nice. But a note to The Element Hotel: please do not falsely advertise it being a "healthy" breakfast when it is not. With the exception of a couple of apples (which ran out quickly) I did not see anything healthy. I have had a healthier breakfast at the Westin Edmonton last month which did not even advertise their breakfast to be healthy. 


So please be aware if you still decide to book with The Element Hotel in NYC. I do not recommend it and would not stay there again. 




*****


The Sheraton Towers Hotel New York City is much better than The Element Hotel in NYC.
I missed the small kitchenette in the room that was provided by The Element Hotel but that was it. 

First of all, their elevators work efficiently! And they have I believe eight elevators to service 40+ floors: a few of which are designated only for the higher floors, which is really how an elevator system should be for high towers. 

The lobby of the Sheraton Towers is much much larger. The only problem during our stay that I want to point out is that for some reason the hotel decided to hold the United Nations meetings in the lobby. WTF?! The large lobby was packed with tons of United Nations volunteers/workers. It was so inconvenient to walk through the lobby and it went on for days - from early morning to very late at night. Why couldn't Sheraton put the volunteers/workers in a conference room or separate meeting room? Ridiculous. But Dale pointed out that during his previous stays with this hotel, they have never had that issue with any meetings held within the main lobby. 

Other than that, the club lounge complimentary breakfast and early evening hor d'oeuvres were held in a separate area than the main lobby - which was nice and really how it should be (ah hem The Element hotel NYC). I would say the complimentary breakfast was definitely had healthier options than The Element - again, even though The Sheraton did not tout their breakfast to be healthy while The Element does. 

I also liked the location of The Sheraton Towers much more than The Element. The Sheraton Towers within a 10 min walk to Central Park or Times Square. There are a ton of eateries nearby including a local grocer with ready made hot food and sushi (within a 30 second walk). And the immediate vicinity around Sheraton Towers was more appealing in general.

I highly recommend staying at The Sheraton Towers New York City.

Have you been to New York City? 

Which hotel would you recommend staying at or not staying at? 

Do you have certain hotel chains you prefer to stay at?

Back from vacation! New York re-cap

 Omigosh I have been away for some time now! 

Dale & I were enjoying our time away together so much that we stayed a few days extra on vacation and he even postponed his flight back home. It's sooo nice to get away with him ;)

We went to 4 different cities over the course of 2 weeks. 

The 1st was New York City

I'm super blessed that Dale took me on this trip to New York as I've been wanting to visit this much talked about city. I've heard a lot of good things about New York also....but now that I've spent a few days in NYC, all I can say is, I feel the same way about New York City as I did when I came back from Las Vegas (you can read my Vegas post here). What is all the hype about?

I'm not eager to head back to NYC soon - perhaps it's because I live in a big city already?
Here's my overall opinion of New York City:

-everyone seems in a rush. There is a lot of impatience in the city - similar to Toronto. The first thing I heard coming out of the airport were cars honking their horns like I have never heard before. People just holding the car horn down. It's ridiculous and stressful. I'd die 10 years premature from the stress if I lived in NYC!

-I'm not going to name which acquaintance told me New Yorkers are friendly - like dude, I don't know what kind of people you associate with normally. I didn't find New Yorkers friendly - not even the staff in stores. In general they seem a slight bit colder than Torontonians and Torontonians are known to be self centred. :S

-Times Square really is just a bigger version of Dundas Square in Toronto (with the bonus of wider sidewalks). Yes it is very busy at all hours of the day, even late into the night. I didn't like Times Square as much as I thought I would as I generally avoid crowds for shopping

-NYC was more ghetto than I expected it to be. 

There were a few highlights of course :)
Here are some pictures along with the highlights:

Times Square

One restaurant that I really liked in Times Square was Bubba Gump. 

If you love seafood, you'll love this restaurant. It's family oriented and our waitress was super nice (okay, one New Yorker I met that was friendly haha). The seafood is really fresh and well prepared. 

In fact I liked the restaurant so much that Dale insisted he buy me a couple of souvenir T-shirts :P

Dale took us on a carriage ride through downtown Manhattan one night. It was really romantic and nice :)

Dale took me on a downtown bus tour of the city. We made a short walk over to Ground Zero where there is construction going on to build a Memorial Museum. 

*****

The most beautiful place for me in New York City was by far Central Park

Similarly in Toronto, we have a nice place to escape the busy city - it's called Centre Island which is a short ferry ride away from downtown Toronto (you can read my posts on Centre Island here and here)

Here are a few pictures of Central Park 

Not only is Central Park a nice way to escape the rush and stress of the city, but it's lovely. The city is built so beautifully around the large park and if you see any aerial views of Central Park you'll know what I mean

There were various beautiful trees budding and this was one of them. 

Notice my recurring theme of Roots hoodies? ;) 

The weather was a bit damp and cool. I always rely on a Roots hoodie to keep me warm during my travels. You'll notice I wear them in a lot of my vacation pictures 

Another highlight in New York City was another quiet park - a place called Battery Park

Can you see the Statue of Liberty off at the distance? If not, here's a close up

So because Dale and I spent a few extra days on vacation this time, we missed Easter Dinner with my parents :(  I felt so bad as they cooked a nice turkey just for us. Thankfully, my parents were understanding and dropped off some leftover turkey for me on Sunday - so nice!

I have so many pictures to post, but at the same time I've been busy catching up with work and school readings. Plus, Dale & I are planning our next trip to Boston MA later this month :)


Let me know what you have been up to!

Spring Flowers & Upcoming Trips

Dale sent me a beautiful calla lily bouquet on Friday. Awww, isn't that's so sweet of him?

Extra baby's breath because he knows how much I love that flower herb. 

Herb?!! 

That doesn't sound right to me LOL I'm calling them flowers! :P

Aren't the calla lilies gorgeousss?! 

They're so vibrant in colour and the shape is so beautifully eye catching

This type of flower really reminds me of Spring :) 

And look at the coloured pattern on the roses!
All three roses in the bouquet were this unique pattern. It's verrry pretty. 

***sigh***

Dale always seems to make my day

I can't wait to visit New York next week with him :)
I've heard so much about NY and this will be my first time visiting the city

I'm super fortunate that Dale is taking me on this trip and he always looks after me. 

And then the weekend after New York, Dale is taking me to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania for sightseeing, baseball games & shopping!! Ahhh! 

I loved Pittsburgh!

I visited it for the first time last August with my family (post is here)

Aaand, Dale and I get back from Pittsburgh on Easter Sunday.
So guess what?! 
My parents invited him over for Easter dinner!
Awww, so they all get to meet each other - so nice! And lots of yummy home cooked food too.
I have so many things to look forward to this month ;)


What are you looking forward to this month?

Lake Minnewanka: Spring May 2010 vs Winter March 2011

Do you remember my pictures of Lake Minnewanka from my post last May 2010?
You can read my old posts regarding that trip here and here


Lake Minnewanka is a gorgeous glacial lake located in Banff National Park - one of the most beautiful National Parks our country has :)

Just to give you an idea of where this lake is relative to where I live: to get to this lake I fly into Calgary (~3.5 hour flight) and from there it's about a 50 minute drive

Okay, so here's are a few older pictures from my late May 2010 trip last year

This is the lake where Dale and I saw a lot of mountain sheep last Spring :)

Do you see the docking cabin on Lake Minnewanka? Tell me if you can see it in the picture below

This is what Lake Minnewanka looked like last week Tuesday March 29th when Dale took me for a drive

Do you see the docking cabin on the lake here? 

It's a winter wonderland out there, but it's still stunningly beautiful to me ;)

And instead of seeing mountain sheep last week, we saw deer during our drive

Do you see the deer in the following picture?

Okay, I'll make it easier for you to spot them LOL

I'm so fortunate that Dale took me on both these trips out West :)
It was so nice to see how beautiful the lake looks like in Springtime vs late Winter.