'Burgh Bits & Bites

I recently had the chance to participate in a ‘Burgh Bits & Bites food tour and I must say, I have my mother’s and mother-in-law’s birthday gifts wrapped up for the year! (Along with those for all girlfriends, and visitors, and…anyone else) If you like food and don’t mind eating it, this is the tour for you.

I attended the Strip District tour which is held Thursday and Friday mornings, when the Strip is open and buzzing but the crowds aren’t packing the streets and stores. I should have known when the meeting point was Old St. Patrick’s Church that the tour would deliver on some unknown history and teach even me (a longtime Strip District shopper) some new things about an area I thought I had fully explored.

I found the tour to be thoroughly researched which is important for me as a history buff. One of my pet peeves is attending tours and museums where they either get the history wrong or their guides just don’t know enough. I can appreciate the level of work that is put into a detailed neighborhood history and was impressed by our guide’s knowledge of the Strip as well as her ability to handle general Pittsburgh questions with confidence.

I felt the tour was well paced in its combination of talking and eating, and the flow of the establishments we visited was also nicely arranged. We hit the must see places (Penn Mac) along with some smaller gems I hadn’t visited before.

At its heart, this is a food tour and I felt it more than delivered on the food promise. In terms of value for experience the cost of the tour is very reasonable and I highly recommend it.

In addition to the Strip District tour, ‘Burgh Bits & Bites also offers a Strip District TGIF Tour and a Little Italy Tour in Bloomfield. There are plans to expand to other well-known neighborhoods in the future. Whichever tour you attend, plan on doing some serious food shopping afterwards, because you’ll want to go back and get more of what you’ve tasted; I guarantee this.

Please visit the ‘Burgh Bits & Bites website for detailed information on pricing, length of tours, and when they run. They can also be found on Facebook and Twitter under burghfoodtour.

SPECIAL NOTE: We had a brief glimpse of some of the stops on the Strip District TGIF Tour that is run one Friday evening per month. This would be a great way to spend a Friday night with your friends or a date (I’ll be dragging my husband, aka Your Active Husband, on the tour soon).

OTHER SPECIAL NOTE: More of a warning really, I already had enough must eat places in the Strip before taking this tour, the only downside to the experience was that I have now added even more places to that list. I guess I’ll just have to keep eatingJ

LEVEL OF EFFORT: This tour includes approx 1.5 hours of walking although there are opportunities for sitting in some of the stores. ‘Burgh Bits & Bites offers this tour to kids and school groups as well, and can modify it slightly for the group’s needs.

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Phipps Conservatory

My visits to Phipps have always been during the brown and apocalyptic days of winter, when walking into a warm conservatory filled with the scent of pine trees was like a little window into spring. Walking into Phipps in the middle of summer was like a sensory explosion. The scent of loam, the sounds of water falling over stone, the colors were lush and warm and energizing and everything I love about summer. You can see more photos at this link.

Highlights for me were the butterfly room (Stove Room), the Tropical Fruit and Spice Room, and the new Tropical Forest Conservatory. The butterflies in the Stove Room are a stream of beautiful colors and lovely to see close up. The path wanders throughout the room offering lots of butterfly viewing.

I read up on the green features of the new Tropical Forest addition on the Phipps website and was very impressed with the engineering. I wish some of that information was available on site and not just on the web. In addition to the gigantic tropical plants and quirky Frabel glass pieces, a fun aspect of this room are the three activity huts placed throughout. These are mostly for kids, but my husband and I also enjoyed playing in, um, I mean investigating these, as well.

Overall, the inclusion of glass art pieces throughout the Conservatory added the icing on the cake for my Phipps experience. The current exhibits are by Hans Godo Frabel, although some stunning Chihuly pieces also remain including the bold glass chandelier in the entrance hall. For those reluctant to visit the Conservatory, lure them along to see these amazing glasses installations. In my personal opinion, some pieces work better than others with their surroundings, but those that do work bring their settings to life with a deeper dimension.

SPECIAL NOTES: See the conservatory at night!! I can’t stress this enough. If you enjoy the conservatory and exhibits during the day, you’ll have a whole new appreciation for them at night. Phipps Conservatory is open until 10 pm on Friday nights and some of the glass exhibits that seem just ok during the day, all of a sudden jump out at you at night.

Anyone who wants to have a romantic date night, this might even top Mt. Washington (no pun intended) as a romantic Pittsburgh getaway. The lights in Phipps create shadows that play across the green plantings, the soft sounds of water in the background, and the shaded nooks and corners make for a very dreamy, calming, and at times surreal atmosphere which is perfect for spending quiet time with your date.

COST: Phipps Conservatory is $10 for adults, $9 for students with ID and those 62+, $7 for kids 2-18, and FREE for kids under 2. I found this to be a deal personally since my husband and I easily spent 2.5 hours there during the day and then returned for another hour at night. The place is huge and there is so much to see.

SPECIAL NOTE: See Phipps for FREE - you can enjoy the Aquatic Gardens and plantings surrounding the entrance anytime, and the Outdoor Garden is open during the day as well for FREE. Take a stroll through here when you’re in Oakland and enjoy the smells and sights, sit on the benches and just relax.

KIDS: The wonderful Children’s Discovery Garden has interactive activities for kids, water to play with and great bugs which kids all seem to love. The Tropical Fruit and Spice Room just before this area is a great place to show kids where some of their food comes from, and the huts in the Tropical Forest let their imaginations run wild. Parts of the conservatory are quite warm and humid and seeing the entire place could be a bit difficult for some ages and personalities. I would recommend visiting the butterfly room (Stove Room) then out to the Children’s Discovery Garden and finishing at the Tropical Forest. If they’re still going, duck back through the other rooms.

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Raison d'etre

Welcome to Your Active Blog! As all good Pittsburghers do, I’ve returned to the city after several years away and I've realized so much has happened and changed in the city over the past few years that I need to revisit all my favorite places and see what’s new. We Pittsburghers can appreciate a good thing, but we tend to be a little hesitant to be the first ones out there. So I’ll be the guinea pig and visit all the new, and old, places. Follow along and feel free to comment, discuss, and make suggestions.

After scheduling the first month of activities, I see now that I never appreciated before how much this area has to offer. I’m booked solid for 2 activities a week for the next 2 months and I’m still not hitting all the places I want to see! I never want to hear anyone say again, “there’s nothing to do here”.

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