PORTLAND, Charming, Livable City, with Art, Gardens, Nice People and Good Restaurants

We have loved Portland.  It's a pretty big city (about 1.5 million population), but is very easy to get around in with great public transportation.  And the narrow, treed streets in the downtown area make it attractive for walking, too, and there were lots of people on the streets.  There were more things to do and see than we had time for, but we visited the very good art museum, unique shops and good art galleries in the Pearl District, visited two of the many special gardens Portland is known for, ate in some excellent restaurants, and were lucky enough to see the Art in the Pearl Labor Day art show, considered to be one of the five best in the country. 

9th U.S. District Court of Appeals Court

The courtroom above, located in the historic Portland Courthouse dating from the early 1800s,  serves as the 9th U.S. District Court of Appeals about once a month.  The rest of the time, the court convenes in San Francisco, Pasadena and Seattle.  Only three judges serve on the appeals court on an given occasion, but there are over 20 judges who serve on this appeals court for different cases or in the different court sites.

Good Restaurants

 We ate dinner one night at this restaurant, Pok Pok, rated #1 in popularity in Portland.  Harold said its rustic interior was typical of the Thai restaurants he visited in Thailand back in the 60s when he was serving in the Air Force at Korat Air Force Base.  The food didn't disappoint.

Portland International Rose Garden

This is only one of the great gardens maintained by the city of Portland.  There are 4.5 acres of roses and over 7000 different plants representing over 500 varieties. It was magnificent.  Such a wonderful gift of the city to its residents and visitors like us.

 Harold in the garden.

 Barbara on one of the many paths in the 4.5 acres.

Two exquisite examples of the roses in the garden.

Japanese Garden

 A large raked section of the garden, reflecting the Zen Buddhist influence on Japanese culture.

 Another lovely section of this serene park.  People tended to speak in whispers in this park, and there were a lot of visitors.

Colorful koi in a ponds along one of the paths in the park.

Art in the Pearl Art Show

 We agreed that this was perhaps the best art fair we had ever attended for the consistent high quality of work and the number of types of work that were different from anything we had ever seen.  We couldn't resist buying a couple of small pieces of art ourselves.

 Entertainment was also a part of the fair, including this troupe of belly dancers.  As you can see, not all of the women who danced were of the washboard abs variety.  Good for them!

We were lucky enough to hear this performer, Edna Vazquez, a Mexican torch singer who sang Mexican folk songs with soul.  For those of you who happen to know the singing of Luna Itzal, a famous Mexican singer, she sang in the same style, but perhaps even better!  If you are intrigued, you can hear some of her songs by visiting her web site, http://www.ednavazquez.com/.

One of our favorite activities while traveling are going to farmers' markets.  Here Barbara is learning from a vendor about a kind of cucumber she's never seen before.  The Portlanders are real foodies.