KLMNO

Travel SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 2019 . SECTION F EZ EE

THE NAVIGATOR

Emergency exit rows provide more legroom, but require extra duties. F2

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL HENNINGER FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

BY MELANIE D.G. KAPLAN

I’ve stopped counting the number of cities I’ve fallen in love with. But I think Pittsburgh might be the firstcity to have loved me back. ¶ On a Sunday morning in February, the sun broke through rain clouds, and Iwalked along Pittsburgh’s waterfront to a 10-foot-tall bronze sculpture of Mister Rogers tying his shoes.I heard his voice through overhead speakers. “Did you know that wondering about things is one of thefirst steps to understanding them?” Birds chirped, a freight train rumbled, and I looked upriver towardthe sparkling skyline. I’d intended to make this a quick stop, but I couldn’t step away from that familiar voice. By the time Fred had reminded me that there’s nobody else in the world who is exactly like me, I had cried, laughed and called my mom. ¶ Steel City remains gritty. On dreary days in WesternPennsylvania, the pitter-patter of rain is the soundtrack for a setting that’s scorned for its gruffness,car-eating potholes, legal smoking in some bars and obsession with the 1970s Steelers. And yet. The cityis full of gems: world-class art museums, three inviting rivers and cuisine worth writing home about(including a July festival called Picklesburgh). Pittsburgh is a vast Rust Belt city of dozens of colorfulneighborhoods — including August Wilson’s Hill District, Bloomfield (a.k.a. Little Italy) and Polish Hill.Some areas are so hilly that you feel as if you’re on a mezzanine level looking down on an urban lobby. ¶After I left Mister Rogers, feeling confident and loved, I went to a community yoga class at the Ace Hotel.In a playful style, the instructor told us to wiggle our fingers like we were “tickling the sun” and stretch our arms like we were “making room for wings to break out.” As light streamed into the ballroom, she ended class by telling us to remember, “You are not only enough, you are almost too much sauce for yourown cup.” Thank you, Pittsburgh. SEE PITTSBURGH ON F4

YOU’RE GOING WHERE?

PittsburghKnown for its grit and love of the Steelers, a working-class city has world-class gems

TOP: The Duquesne Incline, just west of the Fort Pitt Bridge, features a red car that might remind riders of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and offers a spectacular view of the Steel City.

ABOVE LEFT: Customers have several olive bar options at the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company.ABOVE RIGHT: Volunteer David Bennett, left, at St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church in Millvale, Pa.

SCIENCE

Those photos of wildlife cramming your phone can help scientists. F5

BY WALTER NICKLIN

How did it happen that I’m nowslicing into what might be theworld’s biggest schnitzel, to bewashed down by a half-liter oflocal brew, in a medieval castleperched atop a hill overlooking anAustrian border town I’ve neverheard of? The castle, whose tower— the “keep” — was built around1265, is called Schattenburg, andthe town is Feldkirch, built on thebanks of a Rhine tributary. Andthat is the answer to my question:I’m here to explore the Rhine up-stream of Basel, Switzerland,which is where typical cruisesstart and/or end.

It’s a solitary quest, indulgingmy fantasy of being reincarnatedas a 19th-century explorer discov-ering the source of a mighty river.That the Rhine has been well-mapped for millennia doesn’tmatter; there are still personaldiscoveries to be had. Travelingalone means I can go where I like,when I like.

Even the most desultory studentof Western Europe’s history and

SEE RHINE ON F6

A solo quest to find the source of the mighty Rhine

BY MARY WINSTON NICKLIN

paris — Smoke billowed from theheart of the city Monday night as firefighters sought to control the inferno that engulfed Notre Dame Cathedral. Time seemed to stop as we watched the flames topple the spire, ravage the roof and threaten the towers. Crowds of emotional bystanders, some with tears streaming down their faces, gath-ered on the quays in a hushed, hor-rified silence that occasionally was broken by collective song and prayer. “Ave Maria,” they sang. “We salute you, Maria.”

Miraculously — and we neededa miracle during this Holy Weekcatastrophe — the 400 Parisianpompiers were able to extinguishthe fire and save the edifice. Theyworked late into the night, pump-ing water directly from the Seineto spray on the blaze. (The fragilityof the 850-year-old structuremeant that dropping water fromthe air would cause considerabledamage.) Arriving on the scene,French President Emmanuel Ma-cron vowed that the cathedral

SEE CATHEDRAL ON F3

Places for solace in Paris after the Notre Dame fire

F4 EZ EE THE WASHINGTON POST . SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 2019

EatLocal faves

I popped into Brugge on Northfor brunch, with an appetite for roasted cauliflower frittata and hungry to see the City of Asylum Bookstore, which shares space with the restaurant. (Both are un-der the Alphabet City umbrella.) Atthe bar, I sat beside a few locals ordering drinks after a drag show. The Belgian-inspired restaurant serves lunch and dinner, with fa-vorites like mussels, twice-cooked fries with tarragon mayonnaise, and beet and fennel salad, as well as grilled cheese on sourdough. Its sister restaurants are the neigh-borhoody Point Brugge in Point Breeze and Park Bruges in High-land Park. City of Asylum, a sanc-tuary for writers whose voices have been silenced in their home countries, is a hub for writers, readers and musicians, and the space has regular jazz concerts, author readings and films. The bookstore is known for translated titles and those by immigrants andrefugees. Walk a few blocks to the Mattress Factory, a contemporary art museum.

Of course, pierogies were on mylist. Luckily, I found Apteka, a small, plant-based, Polish cafe thata local couple opened three yearsago. I arrived early on a Sunday, and the dinner line was so longthat I ended up sharing a table with an engineer from California. We both ordered pierogies, heav-enly little pockets of sauerkraut and mushroom or smoked cab-bage and potato. “There’s a lot ofPolish pride in Pittsburgh,” saidco-owner and co-chef TomaszSkowronski, who grew up forag-ing for mushrooms while visiting relatives in Warsaw. Now, he goesthrough 140 pounds of ’shrooms aweek. I ordered the Kluski Slaskie,a generous portion of baby lima beans with potato dumplings andfried buckwheat, and my table-mate shared her cake with roastedapricot. “Lonely No More” is Apte-ka’s popular Sunday late-night DJevent with $5 cocktails, where youmay hear Soviet-era jazz or yodel-ing. Another vegan must, and notonly for the cleverly named menu items: Onion Maiden, a cash-only,Iron Maiden-themed restaurant inthe Allentown neighborhood that makes cashew cheese and serves Munster Mash.

Guidebook mustsFood memories are the best.

Years ago, I relished the “Greensand Beans” from Enrico BiscottiCafe — slow-cooked kale andwhite beans — and just walkingpast the restaurant on my recentvisit, I could practically taste it allover again. In the Strip District,behind Enrico’s bakery storefront(where you can still buy a cookiefor 50 cents, as well as chocolatebabka, focaccia, panettone and, ofcourse, biscotti), the cafe is downan alley in a former auto mechan-ic’s shop. Open for breakfast andlunch, the menu include greens,eggs and ham; truffle mushroomscramble; mozzarella and fig jambrick-oven pizza; and “San-gaweeches” made on pizza dough.The cafe has regular pizza- andbread-making classes, and everyfirst Friday hosts a family-styledinner for 30, served at one com-munal table that stretches acrossthe restaurant. BYO wine andleave with a full belly — and somenew friends.

Perfect for travelers who can’tSEE PITTSBURGH ON F5

GoLocal faves

Not only does Kayak Pitts-burgh offer a free hour’s rental onyour birthday, but on your halfbirthday as well. These are mypeople. Part of the nonprofit or-ganization Venture Outdoors,Kayak Pittsburgh’s most popularlaunch site is the North Shore oneunder the Roberto ClementeBridge, just steps from the Pi-rates’ PNC Park. You’ll enjoy afantastic view of the skyline asyou paddle the Allegheny, whichhas less barge traffic than theother rivers. During home games,join organized paddles and catchgame-night fireworks from thewater. For the overachiever:Catch a homer. Kayak or SUPupstream to Washington’s Land-ing (an island where the firstpresident is said to have slept) ordown the river to Point StatePark, where the Allegheny andMonongahela (the “Mon”) mergeto form the Ohio River. Discountsfor bringing your dog, going onTuesday or being a college stu-dent or senior. Prefer your terrafirmer? Check out the Three Riv-ers Heritage Trail, with segmentson both banks of the city’s rivers.

Craving some crafting? Stop byContemporary Craft, the exhibitand education center in the StripDistrict, which features a freedrop-in studio. When I visited,the do-it-yourself project usedfound objects. Even if you can’timagine the fantastic necklacesone can make with bottle caps,sections of twinkly lights andplastic ice cream tops, have a goat it; your bottled-up creativitywill thank you. After browsingthe exhibits, which can focus onsocial justice, cultural boundar-ies and the environment, visit theartist-in-residence, who makesquirky, large-headed KreepyDolls from strips of fabric. Con-temporary Craft (moving to Law-renceville next year) offers a widerange of classes every week, in-cluding upcoming workshops onrod puppetry, hand-painted claytiles and papermaking from hops(part of the Crafts & Drafts series,which includes two drinks). Sus-tain the art buzz at the CarnegieMuseum of Art, the Andy WarholMuseum and the Frick Pitts-burgh.

Guidebook mustsTrying to make it a snappy new

day? The bronze sculpture ofMister Rogers on the NorthShore, below Heinz Field, is amust. Called “Tribute to Chil-dren,” the monument — with itsaccompanying audio of Rogers-isms — could be renamed “Inspi-rational Site for Grown-Ups ThatAlso has Killer Views.” If you’reyearning for more, follow thattrolley to the Heinz History Cen-ter, where you can see “MisterRogers’ Neighborhood” artifacts,including the entryway whereRogers laced up his shoes, Mr.McFeely’s “Speedy Delivery” tri-cycle and the Great Oak Treewhere X the Owl lived. The Chil-dren’s Museum of Pittsburgh ishome to puppets King FridayXIII, Daniel Striped Tiger andHenrietta Pussycat; and on theFred Rogers Trail, you can ex-plore the Fred Rogers Center atSaint Vincent College (whichhouses the original trolley) andthe spot where Rogers is buried,both about an hour east in hishometown of Latrobe.

Looking for a reason to use“funicular” in a sentence? Now’sthe time. The Monongahela In-cline is the country’s oldest con-tinuously operating funicular, orcable railway. It was built in 1870to help transport workers fromMount Washington down to fac-tories and mills, and is still usedfor public transportation. TheMon Incline is close to downtownand accessible by foot or bikeacross the Smithfield StreetBridge. At the top, you’ll findcasual bars and restaurants onShiloh Street. The nearbyDuquesne Incline, just west ofthe Fort Pitt Bridge, is moretouristy (the red car may remindyou of a certain miniature neigh-borhood trolley), with swankierdining atop, including Altius andMonterey Bay Fish Grotto. Nomatter what you spend for din-ner, both inclines deliver moneyviews of the city. Some visitorstake one incline up, walk a mileon Grandview Avenue and takethe other down.

PITTSBURGH FROM F1

Home of Rogers is more than neighborly

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL HENNINGER FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

FROM TOP: Drivers travel in and out of Pittsburgh, as seen from a hole in the fence along a pedestrian bridge over Interstate 279.The Oaklander hotel has 167 guest rooms, a 10th-floor lobby and overlooks the neighborhood’s limestone buildings and oak trees.MIDDLE LEFT: At Contemporary Craft, visitors can make necklaces using items such as bottle caps and twinkly lights.MIDDLE RIGHT: Enrico Biscotti Cafe is located in the city’s Strip District and holds regular classes on making pizza and bread. ABOVE: Bryttnie Jones checks out Wildcard in the Lawrenceville District. The shop features countless Pittsburgh-themed items, including bonsai note cards, pierogi tea towels and a tin of Mister Rogers Encouragemints.

For more photos and an interactive map, visit wapo.st/Pittsburgh

SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 2019 . THE WASHINGTON POST EZ EE F5

elers help scientists record wolfpopulations by looking for tracksand kills.

There are even citizen scienceopportunities for people whocan’t physically travel and wantto see the world from theircomputers.

While doing field research,scientists often plant cameras torecord videos and photos ofwildlife over time. There is somuch footage that experts needhelp going through it and identi-fying what the animals are do-ing. (Sometimes, it’s as simple ascounting how many creaturesare there at one time.) Onepopular project is PenguinWatch, in which volunteers gothrough digital images and markpenguins and their babies. It’sputting to work people who al-ready love to look at adorablepenguin photos for hours on end.

“Machines have gotten better,but science still needs humaneyes,” Nuñez-de la Mora said.“We’ll take as many eyeballs aswe can get.”

travel@washpost.com

Krueger is a freelance writer based in New York City. Follow her on Twitter: @alysonbk.

heart of cities. “Choosing a location that ap-

peals to your travel interests isimportant,” said Alix Morris, di-rector of communications forEarthwatch. “You also have tolook at activity requirements.While some of our projects in-volve sitting on boats or invehicles while monitoring wild-life, others involve hiking longdistances while carrying heavypacks.”

One of the most beneficialparts of traveling this way is thatyou can gain access to placestourists are not generally al-lowed. Last year, for example,Earthwatch launched a 10-daytrip to the remote Lomas deBanao Ecological Reserve andTunas de Zaza Wildlife Refuge inCuba. Volunteers worked along-side scientists making audio re-cordings of unusual birds orsearching for rare fungi. “Goingthere simply isn’t possible with-out a research permit,” Morrissaid.

Biosphere Expeditions is an-other company that arrangestrips focused on conservationefforts. One of its popular trips isa seven-day excursion to LowerSaxony in Germany, where trav-

has been found in other parts ofthe world to keep them engaged.”

The U.S. Forest Service hasprojects across the countryaimed at families. With the Alas-ka Bat Monitoring Project, forexample, families mount ultra-sonic microphones to their carsbefore they drive into the forest.Children can later listen to thebat calls that they’ve captured.

Organizations have made ittheir focus to steer tourists tocitizen science opportunities.GoAbroad.com, a search enginefor travel opportunities, has anentire section of its website thatlists biological research volun-teer programs. Its search enginegives you opportunities based onwhere you want to go in theworld, how long you want to beabroad, and your interests. TheNational Geographic Society hasa citizen science project searchfor people of all ages and skills.

Earthwatch Institute connectstravelers to scientific researchexpeditions that need extrahands. Its database lists opportu-nities worldwide, including inthe Peruvian Amazon and Ken-ya’s Masai Mara game reserve.There are also initiatives in the

Glenz of Santa Cruz, Calif. Shefinds the experience so reward-ing that she selects vacationspots only if they include whalewatching. In January, she flew toGuerrero Negro, Mexico, to spothumpback whales. In February,it was Cabo San Lucas. In March,she headed to the DominicanRepublic to swim with them.

She enjoys the challenge. “Youare standing on a boat that ismoving, trying to capture a clearphoto of an animal that is alsomoving,” she said. “It’s superhard.” She’s paid such carefulattention, she estimates she canidentify 350 whales just fromseeing their patterns. She’s alsoseen the same whale in differentplaces around the world. “WhenI see a whale often, I give it anickname,” she said. “There isone that I call Heart String. Shehas a marking that looks like aheart pendulum.”

Cheeseman finds inspirationin the fact that so many of hiscontributors are teenagers andchildren. “If you can turn on akid, you never know what isgoing to happen,” he said. “Wemake sure to send contributorsnotifications when their whale

whales in 40,000 encounters.Those photographs aren’t justgoing to Cheeseman, who iscompleting his PhD in marinebiology at Southern Cross Uni-versity in New South Wales,Australia. Scientific institutions,including the Cascadia ResearchCollective in Washington stateand the International WhalingCommission, charged with theconservation of whales and theregulation of whaling, rely onthem.

“We’re burning a lot of fuel togo to Antarctica,” Cheesemansaid. “It makes these trips moremeaningful and valuable if ev-eryone can see the data and learnsomething from it.”

Science also benefits whenwide populations are interestedin projects, said Nuñez-de laMora. “We are lucky to havepeople on these voyages who arein positions of power or influ-ence,” she said. “You never knowwho will decide they want to getinvolved more.” Protective pol-icies could come from theseprojects; so could funding.

Participating in a citizen sci-ence project can become a habit.One of Happywhale’s most fre-quent contributors is Deana

BY ALYSON KRUEGER

For one week in January, pas-sengers aboard Le Boreal, acruise ship operated by theFrench company Ponant, soakedup Antarctica’s wildlife. Theystood on the ship’s decks tomarvel at three types of orcas, orkiller whales, swimming seam-lessly in groups. They stayed uplate to watch humpback whalesperform bubble net feeding,working together to scoop upschools of fish in one swiftmovement. Hiking on the conti-nent, they saw penguins wad-dling down “penguin highways”and nursing their young. Onsmall boats, they got up close toleopard seals sunbathing onfloating pieces of ice.

Through every adventure,guests took hundreds, if notthousands, of photographs, re-cording each scene from differ-ent angles and zooming in on theanimals, including specific bodyparts. They were doing so notjust to show off on Instagram butalso to contribute meaningfullyto science.

Those who captured detailedpictures of whales sent them toHappywhale, an organizationthat tracks the migratory pat-terns of whales through photosubmissions using the uniquemarkings on the animals’ tails.“It’s just like tagging, but itdoesn’t harm the animal,” saidTed Cheeseman, founder of Hap-pywhale. “Getting answers toscientists’ questions takes a hugeamount of data. Because of thesephotos, it seems likely we will besuccessful.”

This is what citizen science isall about.

Scientists are limited by timeand money. A single day ofresearch in Antarctica, for exam-ple, costs an average of $50,000.They also can’t be everywhere inthe world at once. So a growingnumber of research groups haveturned to the general public,including tourists, for help. Whynot use travelers, with their iP-hones and cameras and desire totake a lot of photos, to collectevidence?

It’s also a win for tourists whoget to engage more deeply withtheir surroundings while on va-cation. “You can be on deckenjoying the views while alsobeing part of something greaterthan you,” said Alejandra Nuñez-de la Mora, a Mexican bioanthro-pologist who was a naturalist onLe Boreal. She taught passengershow to contribute to science. “It’sa hands-on approach.”

Since Happywhale launchedin 2015, the initiative has collect-ed 150,000 photographs of

murals (half of which have been stunningly restored and lit) tell stories of immigration, sacrifice, capitalism and injustice. Weekly tours on Saturdays and monthly drawing sessions (starting inJune). Stop at nearby Pamela’s Diner for a malted milkshake andJean-Marc Chatellier’s FrenchBakery for sweet and savory pas-tries, then head to Esther’s Hobby Shop for your model railroad set and Steel City Salt Company for some black truffle sea salt. End your excursion at Strange RootsExperimental Ales taproom ordog-friendly Grist House CraftBrewery, where every second Monday is Millvale MASH open mic.

Guidebook mustOnce home to iron mills, found-

ries and glass factories, the Strip District, just east of downtown, runs from 11th to 33rd streets, withshops and restaurants mostlyalong Penn Avenue and Smallman Street. Here, you’ll find quintessen-tial Pittsburgh: In addition to the businesses mentioned earlier, I came across wholesale supplies, street vendors hawking black and gold T-shirts and a dude selling homemade ravioli out of his car. Start at Wholey’s century-old fish market and continue your consum-ables shopping at Penzeys Spices, PennMac, Enrico Biscotti Compa-ny, Mon Aimee Chocolat (importedchocolates, salty licorice) andGrandpa Joe’s Candy Shop (old-fashioned, glass-bottled sarsaparil-la). Head to Roxanne’s Dried Flow-ers, a surprisingly liberating shop ifyou have a knack for killing plants, and Hot Haute Hot for rag rugs or funky chandeliers. Sit down for a civilized meal at Bar Marco, which has a five-course dinner in its wine cellar; or DiAnoia’s Eatery, which locals deem the “it” Italian restau-rant del giorno.

travel@washpost.com

Kaplan is a freelance writer based in the District. Her website is melaniedgkaplan.com. Find her on Twitter: @melaniedgkaplan

Liberty Presbyterian Church, andnearby is the Pittsburgh GlassCenter, which offers “hot datenight” glass-blowing classes. Fordowntown lodging, try Hotel Mo-naco.

Guidebook mustNew this spring, the Oaklander

has generated buzz as the Oaklandneighborhood’s first luxe hotel. With 167 guest rooms, a classy 10th-floor lobby (with black and white marble, gold mirrors and oak paneling) and an all-day bras-serie with 360-degree views, the new property looks right at home amid the neighborhood’s elegant limestone buildings and oak trees. The Oaklander is adjacent to the University of Pittsburgh and across from the campus’s iconic 42-floor Cathedral of Learning. It’salso a short walk from Carnegie Mellon University and Carnegie’s art and natural history museums, Phipps Conservatory and Botani-cal Gardens and Caliban Book Shop. The pet-friendly property, the first Autograph Collection ho-tel in Pennsylvania, has luxurious Frette linens and 24-hour room service; rates start at $249. Open-ing in May in a century-old formervocational school in Law-renceville: TRYP by WyndhamPittsburgh.

ExploreLocal fave

Cross the 40th Street Bridgefrom Lawrenceville to reach Mill-vale, a working-class borough known for its beloved music ven-ue, Mr. Smalls. Located in a con-verted church, the theater hosts avariety of indie, hip-hop and punk acts, including Cat Power last year and Son Volt, Rhett Miller and the Mountain Goats this spring. (Go early and play Millvale-opoly in the cafe.) St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church sits on the bank ofthe Allegheny, home to the master-piece murals painted by Croatian immigrant Maxo Vanka, who Da-vid Byrne called the “Diego Rivera of Pittsburgh.” The provocative

sauruses.

StayLocal fave

If the Stan Smith tennis shoehad its own hotel, it would be thesporty and retro Ace Hotel Pitts-burgh. The hotel opened in 2015in a former YMCA building,which was built in 1920 in theprettified East Liberty neighbor-hood. Thankfully, Ace kept manyof the fabulous design elements,such as the gymnasium with itsoriginal track (a gathering placewhere you can play corn hole andbuy drinks at a portable bar), themarble staircase (now lined withblack and white photographs, in-cluding some of Pirates Hall ofFamer Roberto Clemente), ornatelight fixtures and terrazzo floors.Weekly events include a lobby DJon Mondays and donation-basedcommunity yoga on Sundays inthe high-ceilinged, black and red-floored ballroom. Rooms start at$149; some come with turntablesand vinyl. Whitfield, off the lobby,serves breakfast, lunch and din-ner. Next door is the striking East

birth of Rye.” Tours on Saturdays.Visit the Ross Park Mall location ifyou want to fill your own bottle from a barrel.

Grab a grocery basket at theStrip District’s PennsylvaniaMacaroni Company. You’ll needit as you peruse more than 5,000imported Italian and specialty food items. I expected to justbrowse but was soon jugglingboxes of dinosaur- and star-shaped pasta. The family-run Ital-ian grocery, founded in 1902 andknown by locals as PennMac, sellsbulk spices and olive oil and animpressive selection of Italiancheeses, meats and oils. Don’tmiss the wholesale ingredients,like 110-ounce cans of pizza sauceand roasted red peppers. The olivebar has nearly as many options asBaskin-Robbins. And the dry pas-ta section is particularly pleasing,with shapes and sizes that mypantry has never imagined. I wentback to the front door and pickedup a basket for all the pasta,justifying my purchases because,obviously, things taste betterwhen they’re shaped like bronto-

Row House Cinema is one block tothe south.

With a nod to the bygone steelindustry, PG&H celebrates theproducers of today’s Pittsburgh:woodworkers, silversmiths, glassblowers and cloth stitchers. Thenew downtown shop carries onlylocally produced home wares,such as 3-D-printed ceramics,wallpaper with woodpeckers,beautiful wooden cases for yourpencils and smartphone, Pitts-burgh prints and vintage furni-ture. I discovered some coloredtriangular dessert plates fromRiverside Design Group, just likea set I received as a gift years ago;I was delighted to learn theirprovenance. Bonus in the shop:Redhawk sells locally roasted cof-fee. For more made-in-PGH shop-ping, head to Make + Matter(clothing, accessories and homegoods) in Lawrenceville, and love,Pittsburgh (toys, books, cards andjewelry) and Moop (felt and can-vas bags) downtown.

Guidebook mustsOver pasta one night, a Pitts-

burgh friend offered a refresheron the 1790s Whiskey Rebellionand his city’s love of that spirit. “Men, women and children drankit, because it was cleaner than thewater,” he said. Today, the cityoffers potable water and award-winning whiskey. Family-ownedWigle Whiskey is milled, fer-mented, distilled, aged, bottledand labeled in Pittsburgh. At Wigle’s tasting room in the StripDistrict, an employee poured me asample of coffee liquor and ex-plained that Philip Wigle was a key figure in the rebellion. HisGerman name is now pronounced“Wiggle,” he said, “because Pitts-burghers tend to mispronounceeverything.” On the cocktailmenu: The Monhattan, TurmericMe Over & Pour Me Out and the Carda-Gin Sweater. I eyed the wallof colorful bottles for sale — whis-key, gin, rum, liquor, absinthe,bitters — and bought a book, “TheWhiskey Rebellion and the Re-

agree on cuisine, the ubiquitous food hall, court or, in this case, “galley” (so named because the co-founders were inspired by the communal mealtime vibe on naval vessels) is a welcome option. Smallman Galley in the Strip Dis-trict takes the concept a step fur-ther as a restaurant incubator, giv-ing start-up chefs the space to develop concepts before they ven-ture out solo. Fare includes Viet-namese street food, Detroit-style pizza (hint: it’s rectangular), high-end comfort food and Southern barbecue-influenced tacos. You’ll find innovative dishes at all four spots, as well as at the bar. Right now, the specialty drinks are themed around the neighborhood;how could you not thirst for a cocktail called, “The Hole on 21st Street: A Pittsburgh Love Story”? Drinks are half off from 5 to 7 p.m. on weekdays. Go early on week-ends to beat the crowds. Sister operation Federal Galley opened more recently on the North Shore.

ShopLocal faves

Even after two visits to Wild-card, a gift shop in the Law-renceville shopping district, I had non-buyer’s remorse for all the gifts I could have bought. Like the box of bonsai note cards; pierogi tea towels; enamel mug covered inillustrations of mushrooms; FrankLloyd Wright and Andy Warhol coloring books; and Empathy Postcards. (“I’m really sorry I ha-ven’t been in touch. I didn’t know what to say.”) I did buy a “What Would Mr. Rogers Do?” T-shirt andtiny tin of Mister Rogers’ Encour-agemints for my sister, and I stud-ied greeting cards to familiarize myself with the local lingo, e.g., “You’re the fries and slaw on mysammich.” (Pittsburgh has a thing for surprising items on sandwich-es.) It was on a shirt here that I firstsaw “Yinz,” as in “Pittsburgh vs. AllYinz,” which is ’burgh-speak for “y’all.” Wildcard is surrounded by fun, indie shopping; local favorite

PITTSBURGH FROM F4

In Steelers country, plenty of colorful attractions beyond the black and gold

MICHAEL HENNINGER FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Penguins, Pirates and Steelers items line the street outside a shop in Pittsburgh’s Strip District.

Like to take pictures of wildlife? You can help scientists out.

HUGH ROSE

The Happywhale organization tracks the migratory patterns of whales by looking at unique markings on the animals’ tails captured in people’s photo submissions. Since launching in 2015, the initiative has collected 150,000 images of whales, which aid scholars and scientific institutions.