This is a continuation of our adventure with The Big City Hunt. If you aren't familiar with it. It was explained in the first part, but you can visit their website here if you want to learn more:
https://www.bigcityhunt.com/
You can also check out their YouTube video here for a quick rundown or if you are more of a visual learner:
After answering a few trivia questions we finished up our lunch and headed to our next destination. By the way the answer to the previous trivia question asked in Part II was B) 6.
The question was: "How many guys actually founded Five Guys Burgers and Fries?"
I guess "Six Guys Burgers and Fries" just didn't quite have the same ring to it! ;)
Continuing our journey we stopped at Phoenix Symphony Hall:
This isn't the greatest picture here, but it was one I took when we were across from the entrance eating lunch. Here is a slightly better picture of the front of Symphony Hall I pulled from the internet:
Symphony Hall really is an amazing building. It is used for all kinds of different concerts and performing arts. The building easily seats over 2,000 people. It is home to the Phoenix Symphony, The Arizona Opera, and Arizona Ballet.
A fun fact about this building is that I first visited it over 20 years ago when I was just 10 years old. My family and I had adopted an exchange student from South Korea through our church and he was playing in the Phoenix Children's Symphony at the time. He was an amazing violin player. After we found out how talented he was, we had him serenade us at dinner a time or two later on. ;)
Next on our journey we stopped at Old Phoenix City Hall:
The building itself was first built as a City Hall and a Courthouse. However, when Phoenix expanded it was apparent that more space would be needed so a new City Hall was eventually built. The building is still used as a court house to this day and has a jail on the 6th floor. It is also home to the Phoenix Police Museum. It truly has been a building of many uses.
An interesting fact about this old City Hall/Courthouse/Police Museum is that the famous Ernesto Miranda case was originally tried here in the 1960's. From Wikipedia:
"Among the major county cases tried in the courthouse was the first trial of Ernesto Miranda, which eventually led to the landmark Miranda v. Arizona case of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1966 and, consequently, the ubiquitous "Miranda Warning" issued by police."
There you go, now you know where the phrase "Miranda Rights" came from.
Then we stopped at The Arizona Science Center:
Here is a blurb about the facility from Wikipedia:
"What began in 1984 as a small, storefront exhibition has grown into one of the most successful cultural attractions in the state of Arizona. The Arizona Science Center has served more than three million patrons since opening in 1997. The current facilities include more than 40,000 square feet of gallery space, an IMAX Theater seating 289, the Dorrance Planetarium which seats 210, multimedia classrooms, gift shop, food services and a lunchroom."
The Arizona Science Center is home to over 350 hands on exhibits to go along with it's giant IMAX theater. It is a great place to take the family and one that many schools often take their students to on field trips. I had gone there when I was younger but didn't remember how neat it really was. I could have easily spent an entire day here. I highly recommend visiting this place if you are ever in the area!
The Phoenix Museum of History was forced to close down in late 2009 because of a lack of funding. Now the Arizona Science Center uses the building for staff as well as children's education programs. It is a shame that the museum had to be shut down as it housed a lot of interesting and unique artifacts from the wild wild west that once dominated this area. There are a couple other history museums in the area, including the Wells Fargo History Museum which depicts a lot of the old west, but it isn't quite the same.
Our final destination took us here:
One of the best pizza bistro's in all of the United States. Here are just a couple blurbs from Wikipedia about Pizzeria Bianco:
"Pizzeria Bianco is a small establishment, with a maximum seating capacity of 42. The pizzeria only takes reservations for parties of 6-10 people. All other patrons are seated on a first come, first serve basis. Which often results in long lines and wait times that commonly get up to 4 hours. Which can frustrate newcomers. Chris Bianco stated, "it is ridiculous that wait times can last 4 hours, but it takes 23 hours to fly to Australia, sometimes good things just take a long time." Patrons often line up outside the restaurant starting around 3:30 pm, over an hour before opening. There is no take out or delivery options with the restaurant."
Four hour wait times?! Not that surprising when you see this:
"Pizzeria Bianco has been rated as the best pizza in the entire United States by Bon Appetit, Vogue, Rachael Ray, and Andrew Zimmern. It has also been recognized nationally by Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, GQ, and Gourmet. In 2003 Christ Bianco wan the James Beard Foundation Award for the Best Southwest Chef. He was the only pizza chef to have been recognized. The restaurant received a nearly perfect Zagat score of 29 in 2000. Pizzeria Bianco was also featured in Peter Reinhart's book American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza."
Unfortunately we did not get to eat here as the lines were just too long and we had to get back home to pay the baby sitter. I had not heard of this place before taking part in The Big City Hunt, but after reading the reviews, I plan on making a special trip out there to experience this amazing pizza first hand. After all, I do consider myself a bit of a pizza connoisseur.
Overall, The Big City Hunt was a lot of fun and something I would highly recommend to anyone. In my opinion, it will be the most enjoyable if you go with a large group of people. I didn't share all the places we explored as I figured it is already getting a little long winded as it is. Let me know if you have tried it before or if you plan on trying it in the future!
Live well my friends!
Sources:
https://www.bigcityhunt.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Symphony_Hall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maricopa_County_Courthouse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Science_Center
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzeria_Bianco
Image Sources:
https://www.pinterest.com/royalpalms/pictures-of-phoenix-scottsdale/
https://www.bigcityhunt.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Symphony_Hall
http://imagetramp.com/blog/2013/5/9/exploring-arizona-musi
The other pictures were taken by me while on our hunt.
