Portland: A Gastronaut's Tale And More

Portland! City of Roses! The City That Works! And also, the place we call "home," though that term is being applied a bit more loosely these days-- but more on that some other time.

Our 2 week trip to Portland ended up being a largely positive mixed bag-- as I alluded to on the previous post, it was an odd sense of deja vu-- sure, some things have changed, stores closed, endless downtown reconstruction continues, even more overpriced condos built-- but it felt strangely... normal to be back. As if no time had passed-- not what we expected at all. Given our time on the ground, the main goal was to squeeze in as many friends and family as we could see, and do a bit of a greatest hits nostalgia tour of our favorite haunts. Portland is known for being a foodie town with a great appreciation and respect for drinks as well-- Oregon wine is justifiably famous, but dig a bit deeper and remember that the American microbrewery craze actually began in Portland (and the beers there could give German beer a run for its money), coffee is king (hometown fave Stumptown Coffee now has an outpost in New York City and is doing off-the-charts business), and some of the best cocktail mixologists in North America hang their hat in Portland as well. Seeing as we have NONE of that in Germany (except for the quality beer), we predictably went nuts with the food options. And eat we did-- I easily put on at least 5 pounds and regretted nothing, including that 2 donut and coffee chaser after a big lunch. Good times. Without belaboring the point too much, here's a cross-section of the restaurants, cafes, coffeehouses and bars we toured:

Charlie's At Clinton Corner
Nuestra Cocina
Beaker & Flask
Detour Cafe
Lauro Kitchen
Sesame Donuts
Foster & Dobbs
Urban Grind Coffeehouse
Junior's Cafe
Garden State Food Cart
Pizzicato
Extracto Coffee House
Pho Vinh
The Hop & Vine
Vino
Gem Wine Cellar
Catalina's
Laughing Planet Cafe
Savoy Tavern & Bistro

... plus a few duds here and there that don't warrant the mention.

Shopping wise, we took advantage of the (pretty crappy at the time of the visit) exchange rate and loaded up on all those goodies that are either impossible to find (the nearest Gap store to Nuremberg is in Dublin, Ireland), too expensive to purchase here (you want basic Levi's 501's? Prepare to shell out 110 Euros-- that's over $138 at today's exchange), or plain old illegal-- you know, wildly exotic illicit drugs like Alleve and Nyquil.

Onto the friends and family, we saw -almost- everyone, though sometimes it was only for a group lunch or a drop-in at these folks' work. People were busy, and our schedule was pretty darned packed... but I still regret not being able to see all of my friends. Not to downplay the friends and fam (and former pet) we did get to see-- it was fantastic, and I only wish our visits were longer with each of them.

While great memories were forged and friendships rekindled, it was the inadvertent moments that really stuck out. Stuff like an unexpected free morning which led to me sitting in my favorite coffee shop for hours, sipping on a bottomless cup of fresh roasted java (an alien concept in Europe, I can assure you), availing myself to their free Wifi (almost unheard of), cracking open my pulpy summer reading book, and just... hanging. Or the other time when B and I took advantage of the glorious weather and bounded up to Portland's best-kept secret, Council Crest Park, situated at the highest point in the city and pretty hard to find (no doubt helped by all of the richie rich neighborhood residents regularly removing the direction signs), spreading out a blanket, eating sandwiches and enjoying views like this. Bliss.

And a word of advice about overpacking your bags for the flight home: Gone are the days the airline will look the other way-- be prepared to pay a lot for heavy bags. A whole lot. This is a huge new revenue source for the airlines, so don't expect it to go away. But if you are a frequent flier with at least 25,000 miles on that particular airline you can ask for a reduction of the fee. Pity I only found out about this a week AFTER I was gouged, and the airline ticketing clerk (who just processed my frequent flier card moments before) sure wasn't about to divulge this information. Oh well, the trip ended with a bang.