A Day in Portland, OR

I know I'm repeating myself here, but we have been more than fortunate in the places we have chosen to stay--none more so than here in Portland. For breakfast our hostess at the Rose Cottage, Sally, prepared a three-course meal: fresh Oregon fruit--blackberries, blueberries and strawberries--with a good natural yogurt; a beautifully made fluffy omelette with goat's cheese and sun dried tomatoes; and home-made muffins with butter and tart cherry jam, all served with an excellent pot of coffee and good conversation about England, where Sally travels once every couple of years to visit relatives in the Cotswolds. She is a garrulous and well-informed lady, and as a former flight attendant, well-traveled and acquainted with the world beyond the borders of this country. Hardly surprising, then, that her political views were tempered by that perspective. We learned a lot from her about this wonderful state, which has so much impressed us with its beauty and vitality.

We also learned the way into Portland, notably to the Pearl district...





... where it was our intention to visit the numerous new art galleries and discover the Oregon art scene. We got mildly lost, despite her excellent directions, but did arrive unscathed at our destination, where the biggest problem turned out to be finding a place to park for the several hours we planned to spend there. Once settled in, we found ourselves a Starbucks...



... where George waited outside impatiently for Ellie's return with a New York Times--the latter to keep me busy whilst Ellie explored other places where George was not likely to be welcomed, for example in the Museum of Contemporary Crafts.

It took us a while to get oriented in the area, but we did eventually manage to find a number of galleries...


... showing a variety of art, some of it local, some international in scope. My favorite was a show at the Augen Gallery: "Bande a Part: New York Underground 60s, 70s 80s," an exhibition of photographic portraits, mainly of cultural icons from the period, including the likes of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as rockers like the Ramones, the Talking Heads and Iggy Pop. A fascinating glimpse into a vital period in New York cultural history.

Lunch found us at an outdoor cafe, in the company of a young woman from Ohio with a very young baby--whose husband was a waiter at the same location. We were delighted to hear her impressions of Portland after living in the city for some three years. We hear much the same thing everywhere: it's a great place to live, but grey and rainy for eight to nine months of the year. We are lucky to be enjoying brilliant sunshine and warm days. Interested, too, to hear about the Ohio elections of 2004, when Bush was "re-elected" narrowly thanks to what our friend called "the state of shame." What a farce that was! What a scam!

We must have spent about five hours in the Pearl District altogether, including a last stop at the Pendleton's shop, where I found---and bought!--a fine addition to my hat collection in grey felt. We recovered our car from the labyrinthine parking structure where we had left it earlier in the day, and got lost, of course, again, on the way home. Tonight we're planning to pack, have a light dinner in our room, and make it an early night ready for our departure, tomorrow, for Anacortes and thence on to Orcas Island.