Your walk follows Grandview Avenue, the ridge road on top of Mount Washington, and you understand immediately why it was named so. The avenue runs along the summit of the bluff for several blocks, and the view to the north — across the Monongahela to the downtown skyline and the Allegheny valley beyond — is grand indeed. The restaurants along Grandview compete for tables pressed against the windows, the ones where diners look out over the city while they eat.
But the outdoor overlooks are free at any hour. Come at dusk when the city lights appear on the water. Mount Washington was named after George Washington, who scouted and camped in this region during the French and Indian War.
The neighborhood grew up as housing for workers in the industries along the Mon's south bank. Carnegie's steel workers, the men who ran the river barges — they all came up the inclines every evening to these houses. Look across the river at the full sweep of Pittsburgh: three rivers, ten bridges visible from here, and the skyline that steel built in the valley below.