Day 48: Portland, OR (day 1)

We’ve never been to Portland before, not even to Oregon. But it’s like we already knew so much about it. Everybody knows Portland is cool, has lots of breweries and a vibrant alternative scene. Plus we have watched a couple of episodes of the show Portlandia before. Of course, there is so much more than that in Portland, but at the same time, what we discovered about the city went right along the lines of what we knew about it.

But first, we need to reach downtown. And Jeanne’s place is pretty close to the Max Station “122^nd St” on the Blue Line. So we take the light rail right into the city center. We don’t really have a map, but we end up at the center of the center: Pioneer Square. The people of Portland fought to have this square be what it is today, a meeting place surrounded by tall buildings. And this morning, there is a farmer’s market full of locally grown organic produce. So Portland!

 

While Red is getting her cup of coffee so she can make it through the day, Yellow goes to the Visitor Center, where he meets this guy that does free tours of the city center. Well, he works for tips, but it seems to be a pretty cool way to discover the area. So at 11am, we meet our guide and start the exploration.

Soon enough, we get to know some secrets about Downtown, Oldtown, Chinatown and the Pearl District. We learn about the food carts that are all over the city, 700 of them serving food as good as or better than restaurants. We learn about Portland’s obsession with beer and bikes, and the habit of the people from the city to go on strike. We hear the creepy stories related to the Shanghai tunnel and we visit the world’s smallest public park.

 

Portland is like a magnet attracting lots of people. People from California come there because it’s cheaper, and people from all over the US come there because it’s cool! But there are no jobs here. In fact, the city has a pretty high unemployment rate. And there is a large homeless population – enjoying drink water at all the distinct water fountains that were installed one day by a man annoyed at all the Portlanders drinking beer all the time.

A mayor said in the 80’s something along those lines: “Come visit Portland, but then go back home.” On the other side, it seems that Portland has a lot of resource and imagination to reinvent itself all the time. “Keep Portland weird” says a mural. And we agree with it.

 

We eat our lunch on the waterfront – in front of one of the city’s eight bridges – and meet Yellow’s friend, Noelle, at Voodoo Donuts. This is a punk rock donut shop, serving the weirdest donuts in the world. And they are good! Yellow gets a Voodoo donut while Red goes for a Bacon Maple one. And we savor them while having a great discussion with Noelle.

 

After saying bye to her, we wander in Pearl District. It’s sunny and really hot. We stop at Powell’s City of Books, may be the largest independent bookstore in the world. We get a beer at Deschutes Brewery and make our way to Union Station.

We then take the Yellow Line to reach N. Mississippi Ave, a street with some nice vintage shops and second-hand clothing stores. And here is the food cart we decided for: Wolf & Bear. They are serving falafel pita sandwiches. And they are the most delicious falafel pita sandwiches we ever had. So good!

We make our way back to our place, with difficulty. Back home, we realize that Jeanne prepared a whole dinner, so we eat dinner #2. Then Red goes study while Yellow talks with Jeanne for the rest of the evening.