Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Gingerbread Houses, The Oyster House, And The Ladies' Room From Hell.

12/21/2018

0 Comments

 
...Continued from yesterday: 
     After the sun went down we again set out, this time walking west from our hotel,
Picture
Picture
...to the Pittsburgh Christmas Market,
Picture
...Pittsburgh's version of the German Christkindelsmarkt,
Picture
Picture
 ...where visitors can come to stroll and shop among the booths, which sell traditional European Christmas ornaments and crafts,
Picture
..or for some yummy food such as these giant soft pretzels,
Picture
Picture
...a couple of which we shared.
Picture
    We walked across Market Square,
Picture
Picture
...to the PPG building to see this year's  Gingerbread House Competition, where there were hundreds of enchanting gingerbread houses on display.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
     After we'd seen all the gingerbread houses we decided to seek out some dinner,
Picture
..and so we headed towards a restaurant we saw at the corner of the Market Place.
     It was a cute, crowded little place,
Picture
Picture
...but we were able to snag a table.
    While we were waiting for our food I wished to head for the restroom, but though the Men's Room was right next to our table, I could not see a Ladies' Room anywhere.
Picture
    I asked the bartender, a rather surly youth, where the Ladies' Room was, and he directed me to a hallway, which dead-ended in the kitchen. A helpful kitchen worker told me to go to go down the narrow hallway off to the right then around the corner.
     I followed his instructions, and found myself here:

...in the Bar From Hell.
Picture
  One could not cross the floor of this place without pushing someone at every step. Nor did I see a Ladies' Room anywhere. Still I pushed my way around a little, then asked a group of girls I'd pushed into if they knew if there was a Ladies' Room in this place.
    They directed me to the line:

Picture
...in which, I noticed, there were also some guys standing.
     I t occurred to me that in the Bar From Hell one would expect to find the Ladies' Room from Hell. (I pondered how long ago the last shred of TP in that single-seater room had expired.)
     And so I pushed my way back to the dining room.
     Now, here was the situation: the Ladies' Room had a line at least a dozen deep.
   

   The Men's Room across from our table was still vacant.
Picture
      Thus  I asked Tom to ask the surly young bartender to buzz open the door of the Men's Room (see post from 2/6/2014, "The Men's Room Crashers").
     Tom did so, but when I entered the Men's Room I saw to my dismay that this bathroom had two urinals but no commode. (Which I guess explained why there were guys in line at the Ladies' Room).
      As I was returning to my table the young bartender shouted at me, eyes shooting angry flaming daggers, "I told you, yours is in the other room! What's the matter, can't you hear?!"
    To which I shouted right back, "Yes, I can hear, you young whippersnapper! But there's a line 15 deep at the Ladies' Room and nobody in the Men's, so what the heck difference would it have made for me to use this bathroom if you'd have had the common decency to put a toilet in there out of consideration for all these paying customers? And further more, whoever owns this bar and restaurant should be ashamed of themselves for being too stingy to even put in enough bathrooms for all the people who crowd into this place and pour their money into it, and I wonder what the Health Inspector would think if I dropped them a line about all the people  jammed into that bar without even acceptable facilities?!"
       That's exactly what I said to that kid. In my head.
       In reality I said nada. Instead I whipped out my camera, 

....and shot him.
Picture
Picture
     Then I zipped over to the Five Guys I'd spotted on the other side of the Market Square.
    When our food was delivered by our server, a middle-aged lady who, for all I know, could have been the owner - or not - I began snapping photos of our food, as I always do.
     Tom, in a feat quick thinking, said to the server, "My wife is a blogger. She travels around and writes about restaurants."
      The server, who'd surely heard my public bathroom-shaming along with the rest of the restaurant, got a look of horror on her face. "Oh my God," she cried, "I hope you're not gonna write something bad about us!"
        You think? Thought I.
         I will say, to her credit, that for the rest of the night you never saw such a solicitous server to our table in a such a crowded restaurant.
         As for the food?
          OMG, it was the best.

   The crab cakes were delicious, all crab and some vegetables, no filler,
Picture
Picture
...the fries were hot and crisp,
...and the fish was delicious and coated in a feather-light, crispy batter.
Picture
   And so I guess some, if not all, of the offense by one of the staff against myself was forgiven. Still, as I always told my children, it doesn't matter how smart you are or how good you are at what you do, there's never any excuse for being mean.
     Anyway, we did have a nice walk back to our hotel through the theater district.

Picture
Picture
 The following morning we returned to the the Strip for another once-around-the markets.
Picture
   I, for one, had a hankering to at least look at all the Italian pastries one more time.
Picture
Picture
Picture
   We grabbed some lunch at a famous Italian sandwich place off the Strip called Primanti Brothers,
Picture
Picture
Picture
...where the sandwiches were, indeed, wonderful.
Picture
Picture
    Apparently the Primanti signature is that the French fries are in the sandwich. Inventive, and actually quite good.
    After lunch it was time to leave Pittsburgh, so we walked back to our cars, then drove home to Columbus.
Picture
     It was the best trip.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1685131832

    Picture
    "Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    or from
    The Book Loft
    of German Village,
    Columbus, Ohio
    Picture
    Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
    Picture

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































Proudly powered by Weebly