Continued through Sandcastle, and at the Waterfront took the ramp up to the Homestead Grays bridge and back northwest on the main drag. Continued to the Bulgarian Macedonian National Education and Cultural Center for their Soup Sega sales of food-goodness.
They have a display of Bulgarian-Macedonian artwork, and I was taken by "Icarus", by Dimitar Kazakov (1980).
There's an interesting background on artwork depicting the Fall of Icarus, and whereas Bruegel's depiction shows it in a context of many mundane activities, this picture shows the crash in the faces of observers who saw a winged man falling out of the sky.
This is Bruegel's depiction, and you'll see Icarus' leg entering the water in the bottom-right corner:
Packed two containers of frozen soup into the panniers and we departed, intent on going to Millvale for Pamela's Pancakes. Rather than staying on the rivers and riding around the Point, we crossed the Homestead Bridge and went somewhat directly, up and over the hills. We went from Homestead to Greenfield and Squirrel Hill, and decided to stop at Commonplace Coffee for Coffeeneur 2014-02.
K had HeartMender Espresso and I had an Ethiopian pourover (hints of crunchberries and cranberry juice) - the coffee is excellent here. (Voted the 11th Best CoffeeShop in America, they will proudly tell you.)
Even more serendipitous, this is the beginning of Specialty Coffee Week in Pittsburgh. Rode through Shadyside and the newly ordained EastSide, on through East Liberty. Stopped at Banker's Supply to check out what's new; K got a cool hat.
Rode across Friendship and Garfield. Very happy to see that the Angel of Garfield panels by Daviea Davis that might have been blocked by the construction of a new building, have been moved to a more prominent position on the new building, a Bottom Dollar store at 5217 Penn.
Descended through the Allghegheny Cemetery, rode through Lawrenceville to the 40th Street Bridge, and over to Millvale. Stopped at Pamela's Pancakes for strawberry crepes, nom nom nom.
Departed on the NorthShore Trail to the 16th Street Bridge, to intercept the Penn Ave bikelanes. Noticed a brand-new, bright green bike box on Penn Ave (inbound at 16th), identifying to cyclists and avid automobilists the transition into the bike lanes. Very very cool.
Riding on Blvd of the Allies, saw Parrot-Bike-Guy for the second time this year. A major bird/bike-watching accomplishment.
Rode to Grant Street and the Jail Trail, the Hot Metal Bridge, performed the pilgrimage to REI because they mailed me a coupon and I think attendance is required. Got a pair of Novarra rain pants.
Departed back to the Birmingham Bridge, rewarded by an intercept by Marko.
25 miles on an excellent weather day.
Hello again Vannevar. Thanks for the excellent posts; I have been following (like a lot of others I suppose) even though I do not regularly comment. This coffeeneuring is interesting and I was thinking about it on the ride my wife and I did today. We rode a regular metric century route that we have done 12 times this year and about two thirds in we stop for coffee and some snack. That would almost qualify except for the rules created by Mary G of Chasing Mailboxes. I suppose I would get involved but I just think life already has enough rules so we just ride and get the coffee and leave it at that. Have a great fall.
ReplyDelete