I took the bus from the Pittsburgh airport to downtown, then caught a bus from downtown to Silas' place. Of course since it was the second day of the G20, they had a big chunk of downtown completely blocked off with roadblocks and police. I've never seen so many different kinds of security in one place. City police, military, riot squad, private security, roadblocks, barbed-wire fences.
On our evening tour of the city, we drove by the University of Pittsburgh, apparently while the members of the G20 were getting a tour of campus as well. There was a ridiculous amount of security present, and helicopters flying overhead with giant spotlights shining down. We walked around a bit, staying well away from any groups of people so as not to be mistaken for a protester. You can find videos on Youtube of why we did not want to get involved in the protests.
Here are the GPS logs from my brief tour of Pittsburgh! Silas had rented a Zipcar, so we were able to cover a lot of ground.
On a lighter note, I found a great Italian restaurant in the neighborhood. The cook was standing outside while I walked up, so I asked if he could make something vegetarian with polenta. A couple minutes later he had whipped up a tasty spinach and polenta dish.
