The Mattress Factory is a Stellar Contemporary Art Museum

Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh

When it comes to contemporary art, you never know what you are going to get. This is part of the fun in visiting these museums because there never seems to be one particular style that is on display. Sometimes it is disappointing, other times thought provoking, but overall you never really know what will be around the next bend.

At Pittsburgh's contemporary art museum, Mattress Factory, we found each exhibit to be more interesting than the last and left wondering why it took us so long to visit this museum in the first place.

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24 Pittsburgh Wineries, Cider Houses, and Meaderies to Visit

Pittsburgh is not known to be a wine capital in the US, let alone a highlight in the region, but that isn't stopping local brewers and wine makers from producing some pretty incredible beverages. That is enough to get us excited, and we're on a quest to find the gems that are worth your time.

When it comes to wineries in Pittsburgh, many go beyond the standard batch of fermented grapes to produce something completely unique. The following are some of the best that we have tried so far.

Note: This guide also features cider houses and meaderies in addition to traditional southwest Pennsylvania wineries.

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Exploring the Nationality Rooms at the Cathedral of Learning

Chinese Room at the Cathedral of Learning

Note: The Nationality Rooms are now requiring advanced registration for tours. Keep an eye on this one as things could change.

Pitt's Cathedral of Learning is one of the most beautiful university buildings in the country. 

Ignoring the fact that this college building is the only skyscraper in Oakland and its main lobby resembles a European cathedral mixed with Hogwarts, Pitt's flagship building houses one other treasure worth exploring during a visit: the Nationality Rooms.

Let's go to the last place you'd expect to visit in Pittsburgh– back to school!

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Bicycle Heaven Offers Bicycle Overload in Pittsburgh

Bicycle Heaven in Pittsburgh

Update: Bicycle Heaven started charging an admission fee in December 2024.

Pittsburgh's massive specialty stores have a way of embracing their size and end up turning into museums for all to enjoy. There is Artifacts, the import store for the rich and famous; Construction Junction, the re-use store for the rest of us; and in our latest exploration we visited Bicycle Heaven, the store for bike lovers.

Much like the other unusual stores we've visit in the city, when we say that Bicycle Heaven is large, we mean it. The store claims to be the largest bike shop in the USA, sells tens of thousands of items on eBay, and covers two floors with about a dozen rooms in its North Side warehouse.

Naturally, this sounds exactly like the kind of place we want to explore when enjoying our city.

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Slice on Broadway Review – New York Style Pizza

Slice New York Style Pizza in Pittsburgh

After a somewhat disappointing visit to Spak Brothers in Garfield, we've been taking pizza recommendations in Pittsburgh with a grain of salt. It wasn't until we met up with a group of acquaintances who shared our opinion of Spak Brothers (and Pittsburgh pizza as a whole) that we started to get excited about another option they were raving about.

That pizza joint was Slice on Broadway in Beechview, and it wasn't but an hour later that we were in our car driving out to give it a shot.

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Learning an Array of Sciences at the Kamin Science Center

Making Tornados at Pittsburgh's Science Center

One of Pittsburgh's most popular museums is the Kamin Science Center (formerly the Carnegie Science Center) on the North Side. This massive complex is home to several wings featuring displays of unique sciences including aerospace, water, sports science, physics, medicine, and more.

As engineers and self-described science nerds, this was one museum we have been very eager to check out.

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77 Pittsburgh Breweries to Visit in and Around the City

The craft brewing scene is currently taking Pittsburgh by storm. Not a month goes by where you don't hear about a brewery opening up in the region or a staple making news nationally for their products.

It is our lofty goal to visit all of the southwest Pennsylvania breweries popping up, and in this guide we'll be sharing our thoughts on all the breweries we've visited to date.

So if there is a brewery out there producing something unique that you need to check out, you can be certain we will feature it here!

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311 Pittsburgh – Help Fix the City’s Roads With This Unique Service

Cracks on a Pittsburgh Bridge

If you've been in Pittsburgh for any appreciable time, you probably have noticed how awful our roads are. The highways make no sense, roads are stacked one over the other, and there are potholes just about everywhere.

For a long time this was a frustration we simply put up with because, well, it is Pittsburgh.

It wasn't until recently that we discovered Pittsburgh's 311 service, and this new found knowledge changed our opinion of the city's operations altogether.

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Kavsar Review – Uzbeki Food on Mount Washington

Borscht and Eggplant Rolls at Kavsar

I'm going to guess that you've never had food from Uzbekistan. I know I hadn't until our visit to Kavsar on Mount Washington, and I consider myself to be quite well traveled.

In fact, if you would have asked me what Uzbeki food was prior to our visit, I probably would've fumbled in an attempt to make something up.  Now that I have tried it for myself, I can try and give describing it a shot.

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