Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
Planes, Trains & Automobiles - The Sequel
Portland contrasts
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We got up around 0745 and had a repeat of the previous day's
continental breakfast at the hotel. Today had been planned as a full
day of walking, weather permitting, and once again the weather had
indeed decided to co-operate. We set off at 10am for our first stop,
the legendary Powell's City of Books on West Burnside Street, the
largest bookstore in the world. Stocking more than a million new and
used books, it occupied an entire city block. It had a facility for
customers to self-publish and could also do on-site re-printing of books that were
difficult to find.
Especially in pre-Internet times, I used to judge the degree of civilisation of a place by the bookshops that it was able to support. Whatever other quirks that Portland might have, the fact that it could sustain a place like this spoke volumes to me about the city - if you'll pardon such a dreadful pun. What's more, at this hour of a Sunday morning, the place was really quite busy! We browsed for a while and Bruce actually bought a couple of titles.
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Although we had barely started, there was no desperate rush and we decided to make a coffee stop. Bookstores and coffee shops do seem to be a partnership made in heaven. We then took a leisurely stroll through the Pearl District into the Chinatown area, and in particular to the Lan Su Chinese Garden. This wonderful little oasis was so well designed that on several occasions, I actually stopped being aware that I was in the United States and started to think that I was in China. After exploring the beautiful grounds, we took an early and light lunch in the teahouse. Run by Portland-based specialty tea merchants The Tao of Tea, the menu offered tea flights along with small plates of Chinese dumplings, buns and noodle dishes. Somehow or other, I ended up in charge of the tea ceremony and felt - with or without justification - that I became quite adept at it.
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| ABOVE: Union Station would re-appear at a later stage in the trip |
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| RIGHT: Portland's versatile Steel Bridge |
As we emerged from the tea house and the Chinese garden after lunch, it seemed to have become reasonably mild in the strong sunshine as we made our way towards the Willamette River. (Full marks to you, incidentally, if you've just mentally pronounced that as will-AM-et.)
Our immediate objective was the Steel Bridge, dating from 1912 and named after its relatively short-lived, swing-bridge predecessor, the steel construction of which was unusual for its time. The replacement is the second-oldest vertical lift bridge in North America and the only double-deck version in the world with independent lifts. Truly multi-modal, it has segregated lanes for road traffic, light rail, heavy rail, bicycles and pedestrians!
Turning right after having crossed the bridge, we walked the 1.5-mile length of the Eastbank Esplanade. This combined walkway and cycle path was popular with runners, as well as cyclists and those out for a leisurely stroll. It didn't necessarily have the prettiest outlook in the world, some of the industrial and post-industrial views being enhanced by the sprawling and tangled tentacles of an Interstate 5 intersection, but the esplanade also offered some excellent views of downtown Portland on the other bank of the river. Best of all, however, it included a very cool floating section! Eventually we came to the Hawthorne Bridge - the one which, as the oldest vertical lift bridge in North America, relegated the Steel Bridge to second place. We used this to get back into the centre of Portland, a short distance from our hotel.
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LEFT: In late-autumn sunshine, Portland's Eastbank Esplanade, built in 2001, led us eventually to the Hawthorne Bridge |
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We arrived back at the Hilton at 3:30, exactly on schedule, feeling
with some justification as though we had done a substantial amount of
walking. The plan for today had been designed to incorporate a bit of 'chill'
/ siesta time at this point, during which I am fairly certain that I
emitted a few gentle snores.
In due course we set off again in the direction of The Benson, one of Portland's classic hotels with a great location and pleasantly retro ambience. Taking up temporary residence in the Palm Court lounge, we enjoyed an almost tapas-style early evening meal of assorted tasty light snacks and cocktails.
From
there, it was a mere five-minute walk to the Gerding Theater at the
Armory, home to the Portland Center Stage company, for an entertaining
live reading of the humorous SantaLand Diaries essay by David
Sedaris, an account of the time that the author once spent working as a
Christmas elf at Macy's department store.