For many people, the idea of Pittsburgh conjures up images of a grey industrial city, where there’s people who work, and people who watch football, and they’re usually the same people. There is a very strong work ethic here, and the Steelers are loved by nearly all, but there’s a bit more to the place than all this. Its reputation in industry hit rough times in the 70s, and it hasn’t recovered its glory as a manufacturing town, but it certainly has reached other heights in its multiple identities, and there’s always more than meets the eye here.
The downtown is really spectacular, with a very lively arts community. It’s not just the Andy Warhol museum, or the presence of Carnegie Mellon, but these certainly help. The citizens here are genuinely committed to making this city a center for visual and aural art forms, and the public events are usually refreshingly well-attended, and the atmosphere is fairly wonderful. There are also pittsburgh luxury hotels that speak to an elegance that merges old world customs and contemporary convenience. There are also spectacular used bookstores, great waterfront activities, and hidden gems everywhere you go. The mix of cultures that built Pittsburgh is still very much part of the fabric of everyday life, and there is a great diversity here. There’s a fairly strong Slavic community here, including Czech-descended people.
You don’t have to be Czech, however, to visit Cafe Kolache . Nestled on the main street in Beaver, one of the suburbs to the north, Kolache’s was started a few years ago by Kristi De Maiolo . She moved here from Houston, where there is also a large Czech population. There, kolaches are served in coffee shops and bakeries, but she noticed that there weren’t places in town to get them. Traditional families would prepare them from traditional recipes, but there’s no reason not to enjoy them in public. It’s a kind of sweet bread, in small squares, filled with meat or fruits or fillings, and when they’re warm, they’re delicious. They’re actually delicious any temperature, and this little neighborhood coffee shop is a fantastic place to go on a rainy day. With free wi-fi, and all the cool midwestern charm you could ever hope for, it’s a taste that’s contagious.
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