Portland Home Exchange - Two Weeks
 

This is our 19th home exchange, our first in Portland, Oregon. We arrived here about 3 days ago, driving 16 or so hours from Southern California. We broke the trip into three days, driving Route 5, a fairly tedious route for the first 6 hours or so, breaking the first night in Patterson, and the second evening in Ashland, staying both nights at Best Westerns.

The Patterson Best Western was pretty dismal. The sheets felt dirty and the bath tub was definitely grimy. I complained to the management and they sent us fresh sheets which WE changed and we used rubber flip flops in the shower. The next morning, we were offered a 10% discount for our inconvenience after we reminded them about the dirty sheets, when I told them that we changed the sheets, they asked us politely what we thought was a decent discount and we accepted $30 off on the $80 plus tax room. It felt fair to us.

The next night we stayed at another BW in Ashland; I believe it was $120 inc tax, but the room was immaculate. We had a nice dinner at the Dragon Fly in town. It's a pretty little town with lots of tourists because of the Shakespeare festivals, though I also saw that Pride and Prejudice was also being performed, so it's not strictly the Bard.

We arrived in Portland around 5 or so, having made a mistake on programing our GPS, though we did not go very far out of our way.

to be continued. . .

Our home exchange is in the Northwest part of the city, up in the hills. I feel as if I am in a National Forest. There are beautiful tall trees everywhere, some firs, some deciduous and changing colors.The Exchangers' town house is attractively furnished with lovely objects from their travels. We are very comfortably situated. At night in the high cathedral ceiling bedroom, there is a large trapezoid shaped window where I can see the tops of the trees in the moonlight. It is quite wonderful. Being in the forest without a tent!

Since we are in a city that is very transit oriented, we plan to use our car only for excursions outside the city, that is, if we can draw ourselves away from it, and for food shopping or for bus trips that are too long or involve too many transfers.

On our first day, we took the bus down to Pioneer Square, went to the Trimet office and bought ourselves two 2-week passes for around $44 each. Now, we can flash the pass, board the bus and not fumble for change. The timing is perfect,the pass iexpires the day we leave Portland.

Our first day was spent exploring downtown and Powell's Bookstore. Someone remarked on this board that Powell's can be skipped, but there were several dissenters. I have to agree with the dissenters; Powell's is worth the time. The selection is incredible; you can find books from many minor publishing houses that are probaly not at B&N or Borders , thus coming across so many new titles and ideas. The only problem is that it's not in my home city and I can't visit it over and over again. I am told it is the largest independent bookstore in the US; any book lover would want to see it thrive. Independents are few and far between nowadays. No thought of the kindle while there. :)

Later, we walked into one of the food cart pods, trying out the Big Bowl which my husband N loved. I shared it with him. It cost $5.50 and contained among other things that I probably forgot, avocado, brown rice, cheese, cilantro, black beans, hot sauce, tomatoes , sour cream.

We browsed the stores, took the bus back to Food Front, did some shopping and ended our first day in Portland.

Although, I loved our recent trip to Hamburg last summer, it was great to on home turf where we could speak English, ask questions. BTW, Portlanders are incredibly friendly and pleasant; one never gets the feeling that "time is money" here as in LA.

More to come. . .

Glad you are enjoying your time here. Yes, the NW part of downtown is very nice! Your location is ideal, IMO. You are not far from a great urban winery too, if that interests you. Grochau Cellars, which is across from a good brewery as well.

I had to giggle about Patterson. Years ago we had car trouble there and were stranded. Not good memories, lol.

You arrived at the same time as the rain;) Although it's been much muggier than normal.

Thanks, mms. We had planned on visiting the Rose Garden today at Washington Park, but decided to forgo it, because of the threat of thunderstorms. As you know, it never happened. It was actually a pretty beautiful day. BTW, do you know if there is parking at Washington Park; I can't figure it out from the website. The bus route requires a lot of walking and takes forever, so we thought we might make an exception and drive there. I understand 9/21st is the last time this year to do a guided tour. (at 1:00 pm for those interested.)

Yesterday, we decided to visit the Saturday Market. It is a very crowded, festive, vibrant market with lots of crafts, food stands, and even a few vegetables for sale. It took us about 30 minutes (one transfer) to get there. Lots of the crafts are 60s style tie dyed shirts, pottery, and the like. Lots of jewelry, too. I bought some potato pancakes with apple sauce and sour cream for $5.50 at the Polish cart. Sorry, to say, that though the serving was generous, 4 larges latkes, and made to order, I was not impressed. Maybe, it's because I just returned from Germany where Potatoes are king.

Later, we walked down 23rd street in the Alphabet District, so named because the streets are in alphabetical order. Lots of activity there, too with some interesting restaurant and coffee shops. (A couple names we remembered from our travel guides and plan to go back and try them.) The restaurants were crowded with people; lots of outdoor cafe like seating, too. We wandered into a kitchen shop, bought some bouchons and some kitchen gadgets. I suppose Portland is not a very tourist oriented town, unlike other places since I have not seen postcards everywhere I go. Not complaining!

Today, we returned to the Alphabet district. N wanted to try Papa Haydn for lunch, but when we arrived we found it to be a brunch menu, all breakfast items. It was crowded and looked good, but since we had eaten breakfast at home, neither of us wanted to repeat the experience. We wandered 21st and 23rd street for a while; N began to be quite hungry and to stave off his hunger pangs we bought a good bagel at Portland Bagel Co. It had just come out of the oven, so fresh itt did not have time to develop its hard crust. Still very good. There are several bagel places on 23rd and we will need to try them all!

Across the street from the Portland Bagel Co at 23rd and Gilsan is Pizzacato. For around $17 including a tip, we shared a 10" basil and tomato thin crusted pizza and a very generous salad. It was very good. Later, I visited Mio Gelato near 23rd and Lovejoy for a wonderful chocolate gelato. It really tasted like those I have had in Europe. What a decadent day.

It was a slow casual day. Very pleasurable. We had the same bus driver back home and he remembered us when we entered and said hello. First ones on the bus that morning and the last ones off!

I love visiting Portland and am enjoying your report!
Don't forget to visit the Pearl District and Jamison Park.

Enjoying this too and very timely for me, we head out to Portland in a couple of weeks for a 4 night stay so your observations are being duly noted!

annetti--If you park at the Japanese Gardens, it is an easy walk to the Rose Gardens. Definitely do both, BTW. Yes, yesterday cleared up quite a bit. Still waiting for the mugginess to go away though, lol.

Thank you, nanabee and owlwoman. I had forgotten to mention that we walked around the Pearl District when we visited Powell's Bookstore.



Owlwoman, if you will be in Portland on the first Thursday of the month, the galleries in the Pearl District do something special and there's lots of activity on the street, we unfortunately will not be here then.

Thank you, mms, for answering my question. I double checked the Rose Garden's guided tour for Mon and for once it helped to be obsessive, bec there are no tours today; tomorrow is the last one for the year. I hope we make it.

We just missed our bus by two minutes. If you carry your cell phone, you can dial trimet and punch in the bus stop's ID# which is posted and find out when the next bus is coming. Pretty nifty.

Information on Portland's food cart scene can be found at foodcartsportland.com Our home exchangers describe them as a local phenomena.

After having missed the earlier bus, we caught an 11:20 bus to Pioneer Center, where we visited the Pioneer Courthouse across the street. Once you go through security, similar to the airport, though there's no need to remove your shoes,and show photo identity; you pretty much have free rein of the 4 floors. You are permitted to roam at will, read the information on the walls, admire the dark ash woodwork and and beautiful rooms and pictures.

The building is described in one brochure as Italianate and in the courthouse video as Greek Revival. Both agree, however, it is constructed of sandstone. It is a pretty building, beautifully restored, quiet, and a pleasure to walk through. We were the only tourists, and on most of our visit saw only one or two employees.

We were told on one travel blog to ask about the Courthouse video (we saw no mention of a video anywhere in the bldg); we asked the docents at the front door who set it up for us; it is well worth it.

The views from the top of the bldg are 360 degrees and you can see how the city has changed comparing the old time photos on the walls from all angles. If you like architecture, interesting rooms and a bit of history thrown in, then the courthouse is worth an hour of your time. Of course, you can look in for 5 minutes, too, since it's all free.

We walked over to the Visitors' Center to buy some postcards.
They're not easy to find and on the way over we were waylaid by some more food carts. We had determined to eat a proper restaurant meal today, but Verde Cocina, a food cart on Pioneer Square snagged my attention. A lot of the food carts display their dishes, cook up their specialities and line them up to tempt you. I fell for the Gringas with Mole sauce for $8.00 Essentially, two enchillados filled with tons of beans and vegetables and covered with a dark chocolate (bitter) sauce. Very good.

Portlanders seem to love their food carts, everyone from suits, to students, to office workers appear to have their favorites. One man we met told us that his favorite was a Thai place, but warned us they sold out early; he was right, N missed eating there by 15 minutes. Instead, he had his Big Bowl again.

While eating at one one of the small tables set up near the food carts, we fell into a long conversation with a young man from Little Rock. He was roaming the country. Midway through our conversation, he explained he had to call his ex girlfriend, a foodie, and tell her about his food cart experience. The food is definitely innovative, and tasty.

Our day seemed to wander away from us, typical of the way we travel, very slowly. It was cold and overcast. We took a bus to NW 23rd and Thurman and had some pastry, tea, and hot chocolate at The Dragonfly Coffee House at 2387 Turman Ave. Lots of couches and chairs, more like a cozy living room, where we relaxed for an hour or so, then did some light grocery shopping and caught a bus home.

Minor observation: If you are from California (10 1/4% restaurant tax) you will appreciate that eating out in Portland feels like a 10% discount everytime you pay your bill, since there is NO restaurant tax here.

Another minor reservation: In Oregon, it is state law that someone fills your gasoline tank at a service station. I had forgotten what a pleasure that can be.

Today was a bright and sunny autumn day, perfect for visiting the Rose Garden at Washington Park. Trimet's bus routing looked a bit complicated , especially when we needed to be there by 11:30am, early for these late risers, so we relented and drove. Thanks to our GPS, we were able to find the parking lot fairly easily. I telephoned the Rose Garden Store beforehand (503.227.7033) to check that a tour was on the books for the day.

The web site said that today was the last docent tour for the year, but when I queried the docents, they knew nothing about the season ending. Perhaps, if you are interested in a tour, call first. You may find yourself in luck.

There were two docents conducting the free one hour tour for the six people including us. The tour members were: one local, with a friend from Indiana, two Sacramento people and the two of us from So Calif. One man was an enthusiastic rose gardener and then there were us who know only that roses are pretty, may have thorns and sometimes have a pretty fragrance. However, the docents were low keyed and able to keep us all interested, even my husband who had not been keen on coming. It was a pleasant way to spend an hr, and afterward we wandered the gardens.There were a fair amount of visitors, but in no way would one call the gardens crowded.

When entering the park, we noted a marker for a Holocaust Memorial so with a small map and some help from the clerk from the Rose Shop, we were directed to the memorial, a five minute walk away. It is beautifully done, and as usual always deeply moving. The memorial gives a brief history of the Holocaust, mentioning various victims of the Nazis, Jews, Gays, Romas, Disabled, Political dissenters, etc. As you approach the memorial there are facsimiles of a suitcase, a doll, a teddy bear thrown on the ground. On the wall there are various phrases quoted from survivors. One quote caught my eye. I copied it down:

All of us children were crying for our parents. A guard came over to us and yelled,"Stop your whining, see that chimney, see that smoke, that stench in the air? That's your parents."

We saw a number of people stop and walk quietly through the site. I remembered the last time, we saw a similar memorial. It had been in a shopping mall in Altona, in Hamburg, just last month. There were probably several hundred people passing by the Altona site when we stopped to view it, but none stopped. Perhaps, a Holocaust Memorial is nothing unusual in Germany, here in Oregon I had not anticipated seeing one. I believe it had been erected by the survivors in memory of their family members that had been murdered. There is an enormous list of names on the back of the monument, but as we know a minute percentage of those actually killed.

After our visit to the Rose Gardens, we returned our car, walked down the hill, admiring all the beautiful trees and shrubbery in our neighborhood and began the search for lunch. Not much choice for 4:00. We settled on pizza again, but were not so lucky this time round. The pizza was delivered tepid. We walked over to Dragon Fly for some tea and pastry, bought some bread at the French Pastry shop next door and caught a bus up the hill. It was a lovely day, just the way we like to tour, slow and easy. Portland is having no trouble capturing our fancy. It is a wonderful place to visit and no doubt, a terrific place to live.

Today we decided to explore a neighborhood; one of our books suggested Hollywood. Yes, Hollywood, Portland. We should have heeded our gut feelings that besides the historic theater, we would not find much of interest. N wanted to eat first, so we stopped at the food cart pod at 10th and Alder. Two days ago, we met a guy who said the very best food cart meal as a chicken and rice Thai dish. We had missed it twice, bec it sold out early. Today, N was in luck, and though the line was long, he waited and managed to get served. He held on to his wrapped meal, while I waited for what turned out to be a mediocre burrito. By the time we sat down in O'Brien Park (about a block or so away), N's food was not very warm. He said it was good, but not worth the wait.

We, then bused over to Hollywood to see the historic Hollywood Theater. Built in 1927 (first as a silent movie theater), it is very imposing with its enormous Byzantine or is it Spanish Revival or maybe something else front? It almost looks like a church. There is a strong preservation movement associated with the theater and is still being used. We strolled down a few streets, but didn't see too much of interest, lots of antique/thrift shops.

We boarded the bus again to 23rd and Flanders, visited the local Trader Joe's and ended the late afternoon in a coffee shop, the Dragon Fly, again.

I'm enjoying your report! Are you going to take the bus over to Hawthorne and walk that very interesting area? It is quite different from nw side of the river. Enjoy! CJ

Le Cordon Bleu, College of Culinary Arts is right across the street from Jakes at 600 SW 10th Ave. Tel no. 503 294 9770. They do a five course lunch for $14.95 and a three course for $10.95 The five course lunch includes soup, appetizer, salad, main dish, and dessert plus coffee or tea or soft drink. White table cloths and all. I'm trying to convince my husband to try it, but he is not fond of traditional French cooking. Anyone out there familiar with it? I'd love to know more.

Thank you, Carol Jean for the idea. Where should we get off in Hawthorne, so I can plug the street or landmark into Trimet?

If you get a chance, check out some of the movie theatres in NW Portland. The Cinema 21 on NW 21st is from the 1920s also but not nearly as grand or quite as large as the Hollywood Theatre. Cinema 21 is an art house theatre with only one screen (and a balcony). Right now they're showing an Israeli film "Lebanon" (which I hope to see there tonight). There's also the McMenamins Mission Theatre on NW Glisan where they show 2nd-run films for $3 and let you buy alcohol and food.

I hope you get to check out North Portland as well. Take a bus out to St. Johns and walk around. Stroll down Cathedral Park and check out the amazing St. Johns Bridge. Lots of other little gems to see here - hit me up if you have questions. There are some other really nice neighborhoods to explore like Irvington (and sample the shops on NE Broadway) and Laurelhurst (Laurelhurst park is pretty nice). Mt. Tabor park is just to the east of there - the #15 bus (well, #15 buses) takes you from NW Portland through downtown across the river and directly up to Mt. Tabor.

You can actually take the #15 to near Hawthorne as well (as #15 runs through NW Portland - sometimes it's easier). The #15 goes east on Belmont. I'd get off at 30th Ave and make a right (walk south) on 30th about 1/2 mile to Hawthorne. From 30th up to about 39th is pretty interesting on Hawthorne. (Another cool movie theatre, the McMenamins Bagdad (theatre pub like the Mission), at 37th and Hawthorne, and another branch of Powell's across the street.) There are a few things of interest on Belmont as well (though not nearly as trendy) if you want to swing back and walk a different way. You can always take the #14 directly up/down Hawthorne Blvd to/from downtown if that turns out to be more convenient.

Thanks, Andrew. I'm going to run some of these ideas past N.
We've been riding the 15 bus almost everyday!!

I forgot to mention: if you will be cruising out to the Hawthorne District anyway, you may wish to detour further west on Hawthorne between SE 12th and SE 20th. South of there there's a really unique little neighborhood called Ladd's Addition. It's laid out not in a rectangular grid but in an X with four little rose gardens one on each side and a big circle garden in the middle. (Check it out on a Google map.) And some of the houses are pretty nice too. Most of the neighborhood is residential but there's a little dessert place/coffee shop on the circle called Palio that makes for a nice stop.

Thank you, Carol Jean and Andrew. We visited the Hawthorne district, in spite of the rain, but being hardy Californians we did not let a mere shower deter us.

We took the 15 bus as Andrew suggested, riding across the bridge and exited at 37th and Belmont, about 3 blocks from the Baghdad Theater. The rain was coming down quite hard, hard enough for 3 tourist umbrellas to be seen. We know for sure that they would not have been the umbrellas of any self-respecting Portlander. We were glad we had hoods on our rain coats, but we ducked quickly into Bread and Ink coffee shop (which was listed in one of our guides as a good place to eat)as soon as we spotted it.

There was a nice noisy neighborhood luncheonette atmosphere and almost all the tables were filled. We enjoyed our two sandwiches with soup which came to about $25 or so with a tip. The service was very pleasant.

We, then walked slowly down Hawthorne, occasionally walking onto the side streets. All so pretty and green. Of course, we know why,everything is so green and lush, we could hear it on our hoods and feel in in our damp jeans.

Lots of Victorians and arts and crafts homes, and well-maintained. We stopped at a mystery bookstore, bought a book, and continued on our way to Ladd's Addition suggested by Andrew above. We saw the big circle in the middle, but only one rose garden. I suppose we were getting discouraged again by the rain and did not explore the area as thoroughly as we might have on a sunny day, however is was quite lovely.

We paused in Palio's, a neighborhood coffee spot, again an Andrew suggestion, noted lots of vegan pastries which were enticing, but all the tables were filled. Do people share tables in Portland? We wondered, since often one person and his laptop monopolized a table for four.

The rain had now stopped. We wallked back towards Belmont on 20th Street and passed a Farmers' Market. I bought a great pretzel, just like Germany; it turned out the baker was German. We then made our way slowly back towards our home exchangers' home with a stop over at Trader Joe's for some breakfast items.

Our next door neighbors brought us our dinner; they belong to a coop and dropped off a bag full of vegetables for us, so we had fresh corn and avocado sandwiches for dinner. I, also tried an Oregon wine.

I enjoyed your trip report. I've always been enchanted by the architecture downtown, which is so well maintained. And I love Powell's. They do have a website, you know.

Bummer we had such a rotten day for you to explore Hawthorne and Ladd's - glad you were troopers and carried on despite the rain! It's supposed to hit 80 again by Saturday I think. Keep us posted, let me know if you have any other area questions.

Thank you Pegontheroad. We plan to visit Powell's one long afternoon again before we leave. I love those little bookmarks they have at the information desk that give suggestions for different kinds of books. For example, if you are a Victorian enthusiast, they have a book mark with about 40 or 50 novels and authors listed. I picked up about a dozen on so of their bookmarks for ideas.

Thank you, too, Andrew. We lucked out on the weather today. Perfect, clear and crisp.

We decided to visit Mississippi Avenue today, by bus from the NW; it is a 61 minute trip including walking time. We opted to stop at 10th and Adler,downtown, and have a food fix at one of the Food Carts before going onto Mississippi Ave.

My husband is enamoured with the Big Bowl, though he checked out the other carts before returning to his favorite. By that time there was a good 15 minute wait. I chose a Thai dish called the Emerald, vegetables and tofu with peanut sauce over brown rice. It sounded better than it tasted. $5.50? However, my husband was happy with his food.

We walked a few blocks, took the bus over the Steel Bridge on the Willamette River(built in 1912, said the rider next to us) passed the Rose Garden, a basketball venue, and about 20 minutes later arrived on Mississippi Avenue. There are many independent shops and small restaurants. Lots of cafes and outdoor eating. Even a small area set up for food carts. The area is somewhat on the fringe, comparable to Commercial Drive in Vancouver or Fourth Street in Long Beach, CA. Lots of people out on this lovely, perfect autumn day. We had a great caramel with salted dark chocolate ice cream at Ruby Jewel for $3, a very generous serving and she mixed flavors for us. The neighborhood is a bit run down, with small frame houses, but is struggling to come back. Lots of activist/self-help organizations around.

We were a bit tired by then, almost 4:00, so we bused back to our house, rested a bit, took the 15 down the hill again and wandered 23rd street looking for somewhere to eat. Very crowded, of course, with Friday night diners. We ended up at TJ and cooked something at home around 8:00 or so. The flexibility of home exchange is wonderful; you can eat in or out depending on your mood and energy level.

Some very minor observations:

Many more women of a certain age do not color or dye their hair in Portland.

Far less smokers on the streets, than we encountered recently in Germany and last year in Victoria, BC.

The streets are surprisingly clean for a large metropolitan city, even saw a street cleaner polishing one of the trash can lids near Pioneer Square today.

Rest rooms are very well-maintained. Can't say the same for Southern California.

And Graffiti is almost non-existent. What a pleasure.

A lot more tourists around than one would suspect. Every third person, I asked for directions, told me they were out-of towners. So where are all the postcard vendors on every corner?

I have found plenty of graffiti in Portland actually - maybe just far less than in places you've been...

You probably walked 50 feet away from where I was tonight: at a pizza/sandwich place called Tribute's on NW Kearny just east of 23rd Ave. Yes, very busy on a Friday night.

Google Maps (or Trimet's website - which are you using to navigate?) probably didn't suggest it, but I might have taken the MAX yellow line up to Mississippi from downtown. Actually, you have to walk over the Going Street pedestrian bridge over I-5(!) from the Overlook Park stop. You probably took the #4 instead - more direct, but it just seems to take forEVER... I usually prefer shorter train rides and more walking even if it takes the same amount of time to get to where I'm going.

Mississippi Ave IS fun, just kind of short. Think you will make it up to Alberta Street in NE? (Probably an even longer bus ride though.) Alberta is a little like Mississippi Ave but longer and more eclectic. There are no chain restaurants, Starbucks, etc. up on Alberta but independent cafes and galleries, spread out in pockets along with "industrial" type businesses and a big Catholic church. There's even a popular bicycle refurbishment center.

They have a popular monthly event there in the "Alberta Arts" district called Last Thursday where the street opens up like a carnival and the galleries stay open - an art walk. If you're still here September 30th you could check it out I guess. It will probably be mobbed with people if the weather is nice like it was tonight.

annetti:

This is a delightful report. Carry on please.

Sandy

Andrew: I suppose it's all relative. Remember Sociology 1? When compared to LA, one of the contenders for graffiti champion, Portland does not register, but as you pointed out, maybe I was in the wrong section of town, though I doubt it can ever compete with LA, my reference point. Consider yourself lucky!!

We have been using Trimet to get around town. The ride to Mississippi Ave wasn't too bad, since we broke it up by stopping at Pioneer Square. Sadly, I don't know if we'll get to Alberta or not, definitely not on the 30th, that's the day we're slated to leave Portland.

SandyBrit, thank you for reading. Just a few more days to go. Portland is a wonderful town and we have been enjoying it immensely.

Today was another gorgeous day, clear and warm, in the low 80s. We opted to return to the Saturday Market. Using public transport, we were there in about 30 minutes.

If possible, it was even more lively than last week. Lots of people enjoying the beautiful weather. We wandered around surveying the crafts, just like last week, admiring some particularly pretty pottery and fine wooden vases, but restrained ourselves. We certainly do not need more objets d'art in our home.

We eventually decided on the food cart for the day: Angelina's Greek food. It was very crowded; we waited about 15 minutes in a line that blocked three other carts that were far less popular. I felt bad for them; it was difficult to see their offerings with the Greek line blocking the view.

We spent the time waiting, talking to the people in line; the woman in front was from New Zealand traveling the US and Canada for the last 4 1/2 months. She assumed the voting rules were the same here, that voting was mandatory; she was a bit taken aback when I said that Bush probably won the election with only 38% voting. It was a repeat trip for her; she had done it several yrs ago for 4 years. The people from that part of the world have the longest trips possible. I am not quite sure how they manage it since in this case she has not worked along the way.

The two women behind us were from Napa.

The food was great and I loved my vegetarian wrap; N enjoyed his chicken wrap,too.

On the way to the Saturday Market, we passed Pioneer Square. There appeared to be a demonstration of some sort; we could not see it clearly from the bus. So after the Sat. Market, we returned downtown to see what the hoopla was, however all traces were gone. Anyone know what was happening?

We boarded the 15 again, stopped off at TJs and walked down 23rd toward Thurman. The street was filled with people walking, browsing, enjoying the weather and sitting at cafes. It's such a pretty avenue with the old vintage buildings and lots of old leafy trees. A lovely place to stroll. We stopped at Food Front to pick up the rest of our dinner. Another lovely day spent in Portland.

A couple more unimportant observations:

Young men are generally not dressed in oversized clothes, as so often seen in LA. I saw only one young man holding up his oversized jeans on the bus yesterday that threatened to trip him as they trailed around his ankles.

I have seen at least 4 shops selling clothes, masks and other souvenirs from Tibet; in all my years wandering the streets of LA, I have never come across one similar store. Also, saw a food cart at the Sat Market specializing in food from Tibet. Obviously, a high interest in Portland in this area of the world.

enjoying your report! can't wait for my next visit to Portland, sometimes when you live close by your forget what there is to see!

Yeah, it's funny what you miss when you actually live here. For example, though many locals in Portland have obviously fallen in love with the food cart trend annetti mentions so much, I have yet to even patronize one! A locally-owned sandwich shop downtown that I like is run by a woman who is always complaining about them: competition at much lower cost no doubt. Maybe her complaints have unconsciously influenced me away from the food carts.

Andrew, I can see where the restaurants and small sandwich shops decry the food carts. We've set out at least 3 times to eat at Jake's (recommended by friends and tourist guides) and each time, we have succumbed to the food carts across the street. They are still a novelty for us.(Although, I understand that food carts are the new food scene in LA, they have not reached the popularity seen here in Portland, at least not in my part of town.) We can sit in a restaurant any old time at home. Though, today, we gave a restaurant a chance; the food carts were closed.

We waited for a rainy day to visit the Portland Art Museum, a gem of a museum. But first,we decided to try Kenny and Zuke's for lunch at 11th and Stark. The wait was long. We were told 20 minutes, but I imagine it was at least double that time. I'm partial to these kinds of places, formica tables, Sunday morning noise, bustle, and activity. N had an omlet with mushrooms, carmelized onions, and jack cheese. I went for the latkes, absolutely outstanding with in-house made apple sauce that really put them over the top. Delicious, probably the best I've ever had. Service was very pleasant, too. Bill without tip was about $20.

However, the long line at K&Z put us way behind schedule and we arrived at the Portland Art Museum around 2:50. ($12 admission fee) The docent European tour began at 3:00. There were six people on our tour including us. The docent was super friendly and tried to engage us at every point, asking us questions about the paintings. The hour tour flew by; I thought it was terrific. Now, with only an hr till closing, we had to think fast how to use our last hour: We saw the Monets, a great exhibit of post 60's art and then the bell announced the museum was closing in 5 minutes. We never got to spend any time in what looked like a very interesting museum gift shop.

There was an interesting exhibit that just opened yesterday. Two civil servants, a librarian and a postal worker,The Vogels, collected art for 50 years on their modest salaries. They lived in a one bedroom rent controlled apt in NYC. Some of their collection has just been put on exhibit. We briefly glanced at it as time was so limited. I can't say, I liked much that I saw, but apparently they had intuition and insight and were able to make some great purchases or so say the art critics.

A bit about the museum. The museum is pristine and the paintings are beautifully displayed with appropriate information; the docents and staff are friendly and help you locate floors and exhibits. I love art museums and I thoroughly enjoyed my time here. Highly recommended.

It was around 5:30 or so when we finally located our bus stop. As we mused aloud on the bus about what to do for dinner, the woman in front of us, joined our conversation and offered to direct us to a favorite haunt of hers, the Elephants Delicatessen on 115 NW 22nd Ave. She literally got off the bus a stop early, walked us over to the deli, about a half block away, showed us around, laughing that she felt like a tour guide, told us her favorites, and then left us to decide for ourselves. We ended up buying some mushroom soup to go. The deli guy threw in a free baguette and we had the makings of a fast and easy dinner. We boarded the bus once more and made it up the hill.

Thank you, roguemckenzie. It sounds like you live very close by. Lucky you.

Some more trivial observations: (The last one, not so trivial.)

Tons of transplants here from all over. While walking in Hawthorne the other day, we met a man from Orange County, talked to a Trimet worker from Griffith Park, not far from where my husband grew up, met a woman today on the museum tour from my home town; she also attended my university. She, also lived not far from us in LA.

The rain this morning, of course makes everything green, but even when its pouring down, the city is still beautiful; it does not have that depressed, bedraggled look that rain gives the trees and brown lawns during our rainy season in Dec. I suppose locals would not agree with me, but looking out the windows at the tall trees this morning, I thought how beautiful it is.

As much as I am enjoying my time here in this lovely, wonderful city, it is not perfect, like all North American cities, and I suppose world-wide, there are a large number of homeless and street people about.

One day of misty rain in the fall is beautiful.

3+ weeks of dreary, overcast days when it gets dark at 4:30 in December? Very hard for some people to handle. I know it took me a few years to adjust to an entire winter here, and I still dread November and December. I have good friends who just moved here and will have to endure their first winter coming up. My friend is ALREADY complaining about the rain - and it's just barely begun!

Yes, there is a big homeless problem here - but in a sense it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Portland has better services for homeless people than many other cities...so they come here. I have sympathy for truly "homeless" people - but those people aren't the ones who aggressively hit you up for spare change or hold up signs at the freeway offramps. Those are what I call "professional" homeless people - they have in some sense chosen this lifestyle vs. trying to live within society. I have largely taken to answering an abrupt "sorry" to any pro homeless person who hits me up for spare change, out out of reflex now, but it's still annoying.

I'm happy for my tax dollars to go toward funding homeless shelters for people who truly need food and shelter due to hard times and aren't addicted to drugs or alcohol or choose to live "underground" and live off of begging and stealing. I know shelter space is tight especially lately, but even in better economic times there have always been plenty of pro homeless here.

Have you been run over by an aggressive cyclist yet who thinks she has the right of way over both pedestrians and cars?

There are lots of us natives here too! ;) Born and raised here, moved away with DH for the military and lived all over, but then we were thrilled to come back. Love the rain, love the gray days, love when it gets dark early, and we don't own an umbrella, lol!

I think I ended up with the best of both worlds when I moved to Grants Pass from L.A. 20 years ago! I get all four season, some snow, not too much rain and it is wonderful to have Portland right up I-5 when the yearning for the big city hits!

mms and Andrew:Coming from the East to California, I had the opposite problem, I found the sunny days oppressive when I first arrived. I missed the short winter days that were overcast where you felt a legitimate right to stay home, read a book, cook something time consuming or rent a video. Somehow, the bright sunny Californian days put pressure on me to be outdoors and doing something. However, I do remember, how tired of winter, one was in late March if there was still snow on the ground. One did long for the first balmy spring day.

Andrew, I haven't been run over by the aggressive cyclist yet, but I have been pushed aside by the baby carriages, but that happens at home, too. :)


Today was probably an unusually warm late Sept day for Portland; I did not check the weather statistics, but my guess it was in the high 80s. Our home exchangers called us this morning asking us to water some plants for them, and telling us that the temps were forecast for 104 degrees in LA. We had no idea. We have not been keeping up with the weather back home. I just saw a headline that the temps rose to 113 in downtown LA. Amazing. I imagine our air conditioner worked overtime today.

We decided to visit Alberta Avenue today. I checked Trimet and they gave me a route that took 71 minutes and two transfers. We decided to drive. Our Garmin got us there in 11 minutes. Parking was no problem and we found a space right on Alberta Ave with no limits.

Alberta Ave is a clone of Abbot Kinney in Venice,CA or is it the other way around and that Abbot Kinney is a clone of Alberta Ave in Portland? Whatever, the two neighborhoods and businesses feel very similar. Not too much activity today, I suppose Monday is slow going, several of the stores and galleries were closed.

There is definitely a counter cultural feel to the area. They are all independents with little money to put a gloss on their storefronts or spiffy up their interiors. Some of the restaurants and shops feel quite gritty. There are some interesting murals as you wander the streets, and though I saw a bit of graffiti, it really was not much. And the streets are clean.

We opted to eat at Vita's, a mostly vegetarian, vegan restaurant, that had one meat item on the menu, a quarter pound hamburger. I ordered the seitan/vegan cheese steak which looked like the real thing. It might have worked had they had a marinara sauce on it, but it lacked flavor. As an ex Philadelphian I know the real thing,and as a vegetarian, I'm content to try an imitation, but I'm not sure they will heed my suggestion when I mentioned it to the cook. N's salad and soup were okay. The service was slow, but very pleasant.

We walked past Back to Eden, which calls itself a bakery boutique. Lots of lovely looking vegan pastries attractively displayed. I loved their soft chocolate/tea soy ice cream. One of the customers was exclaiming over their gluten free, vegan cupcakes. 2217 NE Alberta Street.

Because, we had the car out, it was a good opportunity to stop at Trader Joe's, pick up a few things for our last couple days here and get some wine. They were doing some wine sampling; I've never seen that done at home. Perhaps, it's a new thing, or perhaps, there's some CA rule that prohibits it. I don't know. Anyway, it worked, I bought a bottle of wine.

Some more even more trivial observations:

When eating in restaurants here, no one grabs my plate as soon as I put my fork down to clear the table. It's a very annoying practice at home. I, always, contend that dishes should not be removed until everyone finishes their meal. Not one dish at a time.

Hardly see any women with 5" heels and pointed toes destroying their feet and their knees.

In Northwest Portland, it feels like a track meet is right out our front door, there are joggers going down the street every 2 - 3 minutes on the weekend.

Yeah, Alberta on a Monday afternoon would have been pretty dead. Trust me: this Thursday night (Last Thursday) you would not recognize the place compared to today. There are so many people they now close the street to cars. It's a big carnival with street performers, people wall to wall, galleries open, and all the restaurants packed.

You mentioned pizza a few posts back. Where did you get it from? I'm from SE Pennsylvania myself (since you mention you are from Philadelphia originally) and I'm kind of a pizza snob. It's very difficult for me to find good pizza here. In the Philly suburbs, there's good pizza EVERYWHERE (every strip mall has a Tony's or some little pizza joint) and great pizza is not hard to find.