This weekend my mom came to town. Woohoo! It was the first time I got the chance to show someone around my new city. Hard to believe I’ve been in Pittsburgh for three months already…

We started our day with brunch at The Porch, which was lovely. I highly recommend the salted caramel French toast! Back in Madison, weekly brunch was a staple of a Saturday or Sunday morning, so it was good to kickstart my brunch-going in Pittsburgh with my mom.

Afterwards, we explored the Oakland neighborhood a bit, including wandering through Schenley Park and the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon campuses. Coming from the Midwest, it’s refreshing to see beautiful, old academic buildings. Actually, it’s refreshing to see old buildings in general! Thanks to The Fire, Chicago is pretty lacking in old structures. One of my greatest joys in Pittsburgh is admiring the old brick home and Gilded Age architecture.

Some other great sites in Oakland include:

–Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History

-The trails at Schenley Park

-The Cathedral of Learning at University of Pittsburgh (second-tallest educational building in the world)