Rose City, Portland OR (Oct. 20-26, 2018)

After an entertaining train journey, we arrive at the 1896 Portland Union Station on a sunny day. Our second Airbnb is located in a very modern building in the Slabtown District. It takes us some time to find all the codes and key boxes to get into our small apartment with a dishwasher and laundry facilities.

Portland is mainly quirky (claiming the Timbers for themselves), very green, very colorful in the fall, a hipster beer and coffee capital. Politically, the city is not republican at all.

We use Sunday for a first exploration tour through the city. First, we visit the Saturday Market. All kinds of junk, food stands and a cool band called 'Supadupa Marimba Bros' are playing. A few meters further, there is a long, loud and strange queue of people slowly passing by a blues-singing guitarist and his drummer, leading to the iconic and very quirky Voodoo Doughnuts shop. In the city center, you can see many of the pink Voodoo Doughnuts boxes filled with 'naughtiness', best advertising for the craziest but certainly not the best doughnuts. Fascinated, we enjoy the spectacle while eating a plate of delicious dumplings at Afuri, right across the street.

Powell's Books offers over a million books in its Portland branch alone. They distributed books over the internet before Amazon existed. It's incredible what they offer. The queue of people waiting at the used books counter to sell their books is cool. We stroll back through 13th Ave in the Pearl District. Pearl is named after the district because sometimes the somewhat unsightly factory and warehouse buildings often contain gems. Cool bars, restaurants, galleries, and typically for Pearl, animal hospitals, everything for dogs, but also yoga, beauty, barber shops, boutiques, and the like.

Benjamin takes us on an aerial tram and rooftop tour of his hometown. It starts with a curiosity. The small amphitheater in the corner of Pioneer Square surprises with its acoustics. When you stand right in the center of the 3/4 circle, you can hear yourself when speaking, 'weird'. In front of the Pioneer Courthouse, built in 1869, which has been the seat of the US District Court in Oregon since 1875 and today houses the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, we experience the 'laid back' culture live. In the states of Washington and Oregon, the consumption of cannabis products is legal for adults. In the streets, you constantly walk through the typical intense-smelling/stinking clouds of cannabis. On the federal level, it is not allowed. Before entering the courthouse, we are warned by the security personnel - with a broad grin - that people bringing cannabis products into the building can expect very severe penalties. Surprisingly, one person in the group had to give their backpack to the guide for safekeeping :-). Almost all rooms are accessible on this day, the furniture in the offices and corridors are still partly original, opulent, colorful, somehow typically American. We are also allowed to go anywhere in the courtroom. Through the old stained-glass windows in the dome of the building, you have a good all-round view of the surroundings of the old building.

The next stop on the tour takes us right through the huge hospital complex of OHSU. Between waiting patients and medical staff, we walk through the corridors, take the elevator, and stroll across a very long covered suspension bridge that connects individual clinics. The view over the city is astonishing. After the pediatrics department and some surgical department, we reach the 'mountain station' of the Portland Aerial Tram (a cable car by Doppelmayr). We take our time to enjoy the panorama before heading back down to the city. We then take the streetcar over to the Pearl District to a house managed by Ecotrust. The 'Natural Capital Centre' is a remarkable example of green building in Portland. On the roof, we have another beautiful 360-degree view.

Underneath the Old Chinatown District, tunnels were built from the docks of the Williamette directly into the basements of some hotels and taverns. They were actually intended to quickly and easily deliver goods from the ships to the houses. In Portland, the story goes that these tunnels were used for shanghaiing. Shanghaiing, for the landlubbers in good old Switzerland, is the well-known term for being pressed into service at sea. Besides cities like London and Liverpool, shanghaiing was also common practice in Portland. Men were made compliant using all kinds of practices, from threats and alcohol to raw violence, and often woke up at high sea on the way to Shanghai after passing out in the tavern or having an unsavory date at the hotel. Scientifically, it cannot be proven that the tunnels were actually used for this purpose, 'se non e vero e ben trovato'. In the Society Hotel, which has been extensively renovated, we can visit some details of the renovation, enjoy the view and the sun on the roof, and say goodbye to Benjamin.

We reserve Tuesday for the hipster part of the city in the northeast. We walk quickly through the now cold air in a north-eastern direction to the Mississippi Avenue, where 'a lot of history and a ton of love' are supposed to be found. But the hipsters are still in their nests when we arrive. We 'seckel' up the street, not because of the cold, but because we need to go. In Alaska, we could go into the bushes to see if there are bears, but of course, that's not possible in the city. When Nina asked Benjamin about the crime on Monday, he answered: 'the risk is less than going without caffeine for 6 blocks. And it's very hard not to find a café within 6 blocks.

Because we don't walk much (only about 16,000 steps on average per week), we want to do some hiking in one of the city parks. The Mills Ends Park is listed at Portland Parks and Recreation. In high spirits, we head downtown and across to the Williamette. After a bit of searching, we find ourselves at the entrance of the park. The backpack was probably unnecessary, even the park administration in Portland is 'totally weird'

Homelessness is a more difficult issue. Seattle and Portland, measured in homeless per 10,000 residents, have 54 and 52 respectively, which is not at the level of New York (91) or Washington D.C. (110). Despite great efforts and a large offering of programs, shelters, and food handouts, the problem seems to be unsolvable here as well. Fortunately, the homeless are just as 'laid-back' as the rest of the city. Occasionally, there is a witty remark or a smile.

There is a change of plans for Friday. Due to track work, we cannot travel directly by train to Vancouver. In Seattle, we have to transfer to a bus.

For a glimpse of the ultimate 'must sees' in Vancouver, visit us right here, next week.

Have a good one, cheers for now.

Voodoo Doughnut (the Voodoo Doll is awesome):

https://www.voodoodoughnut.com/doughnuts/

Society Hotel:

https://thesocietyhotel.com/