Portland, Oregon

I had a week off of work and I thought very carefully about were I wanted to go, since I wanted to leave the country. Europe was definitely out due to time and budget constraints. Then I thought about maybe Vegas or San Francisco, but I couldn't afford both a plane ticket and food. Stupid airlines, why do they charge so much?

So, I finally settled on Portland, since it was the furthest city south that I could easily get to. And for a $150 round trip ticket from Amtrak, it was quite a deal.

I stayed at the hostel in the Hawthorne district, which was rather cozy and in a lovely century old house. I didn't know until the night before I left that there are a large number of vintage shops in Hawthorne, so I thought I was in trouble monetary wise, but more on that later.

I much prefer staying in hostels than in hotels. You meet such interesting fellow travellers there and the atmosphere is much more home-like and friendly. Plus you get to share tips and meals and wander off sight-seeing with new friends.

I only wish that the beds were more comfortable.

With the Canadian dollar actually worth slightly more than the American dollar these days, I found the prices to be the same as the ones in Vancouver. Although I was disappointed to discover that the Portland thrift stores were much more expensive, but I suppose that because thrifting has been "discovered" and the prices raised accordingly.

However, restaurants were so very much cheaper, especially in Hawthorne. And the portions were huge! That's probably the best thing about travelling in America, you can eat a cheap large breakfast and not have to eat again until a late supper. I don't even think that I finished one meal there, but I don't normally eat very much anyway.

What I was surprised by was just how much alcohol was readily available and it was so cheap. You could even get a drink in the breakfast places, so you can start your day off right with a beer. I never noticed this before, since I haven't been to the States since I turned 21 and could drink down there (seriously, what a stupid law).

The most touristy thing that I did was to order the local micro brew taster, although it came with larger glasses then I imagined. I really don't like beer, but Portland is very proud of their local brews and it seemed like the thing to try, even though I couldn't finish.

I met a girl at the hostel who was also from Vancouver and we went down to the local grocery store to check it out, cause that's what cool people do. We spent a good ten minutes laughing at finding beer and wine on offer there. Canadians are the only people who find the sight of a booze section next the the dairy section hilarious.

I only explored the Downtown/Chinatown and Hawthorne areas. I would have loved to explore Portland further, but I found the transit system to be infrequent, particularly the light rail and streetcar system that serve downtown and I didn't have access to a car. For a city that prides itself on being "green" they should have a light rail system that runs more frequently then every twenty minutes in the downtown area.

I also spent an entire morning and part of the afternoon in the Art Museum.

Here are some of my favourite shots that I took. I love that Portland has made an effort not only in restoring their old building and signs, but also not tearing them down in favour of walls of glass. Yay for Portland!

I prefer train travel to all other types of travel. Obviously it's more scenic, but it's also much more comfortable. There's leg room and you can get up and walk to the lounge car, have a coffee, read a book, look at the little towns whizzing past, chat with your neighbour and get out to stretch your legs on the platform.

The trip was eight hours each way and it was much easier to pass through customs and the border then by air or car. Plus, I got a window seat on the way back and was able to see the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean.

Ok, I can see that every day in Vancouver, but it looks so much more beautiful on a moving train.

I was pleased that vintage was the same price as it is here, since that meant that I wasn't tempted to buy even more clothes for full closets. But I did buy two dresses and a skirt from Red Light Vintage, which was the cheapest vintage store that I've ever come across. I also went into the Perfume House, which is a very dangerous store. I love wearing perfume and was so happy to find a big bottle of "Je Reviens", which is my favourite and dashed hard to find, for only $50 and a much better deal then buying more clothes.

Portland is of course famous for having Powell's, the largest independent book store possibly in the world. Fortunately, I was limited by what I could carrying. And I forgot the list of books that I wanted at home.

You can see more of my photos in this set on Flickr.

Day Trip to the Garden City

Last Friday, it was warm, sunny and the start of the long weekend (for Victoria Day) and the ferry was running extra sailings. So I got up really early and took several buses and a ferry to reach the capital of British Columbia, named in honour of the late Queen.

The ferry was only a couple of years old, as opposed to the older ones from the Seventies that I normally take to visit my Grandma on the Sunshine Coast. The new ferry included a fancy lounge for people who can afford the $12 entry fee. It was completely empty but it shows your tax dollars at work.

The ferry ride was an hour and a half and really boring. So I read my book while trying to balance crappy ferry coffee. Ferries used to have cup holders and places to put your feet up, but not anymore for some strange, unknown reason.

The Empress is the most famous hotel in BC and was built in 1908. It originally didn't have a sign, since it's quite clear that it's a Canadian Pacific Hotel. Plus it's in the harbour and next door to the legislative building. You can read about it's history here.

One day, I shall have Afternoon Tea at the Empress, even through it's expensive and the touristy thing to do. I wanted to take a picture of the ceiling of the crystal ballroom, but couldn't, since a wedding was being set up in it. Instead I took a picture of the original post box next to the elevators.

This is one of the downtown sidewalk trash cans. They all look like this, isn't that nice.

I only stayed downtown, because I was on foot and downtown is the only part of Victoria that I have a mental map of.

Victoria's Chinatown is the oldest in Canada and the second oldest in North America, after San Francisco. However it's now quite small, about two blocks, especially compared to Vancouver's.

I had lunch at the Fan Tan Cafe, which was small, but had delicious food, excellent service and was really cheap.

Fan Tan Alley (between Pandora and Fisgard streets) is the narrowest street in Canada. The part where that woman is walking to is less than a metre wide!

There are a lot of colourful buildings downtown from the last half of the nineteenth century. These two are my favourites.

I then went to the Royal BC Museum, which is more focused on being for tourists then for educating the locals about their own history.

I took as many photos as I could. Most of the photos didn't turn out well, since the lighting is low (to preserve the artifacts) and I couldn't use my flash, which damages the artifacts, even through a lot of the tourists couldn't read the "No Flash Photography" signs. Remember kids, never never never turn your flash on in museums and art galleries, it makes History cry.

But there's still some neat stuff to see, like the Natural History and fun with taxidermy section.

The First Nations exhibit, which has stuff from all tribes in BC, not just the ones from Victoria. These are some Haida hats.

And of course the permanent historical exhibit that combines the "cram as much of BC's history into a bite sized portions" and the "look at all of the stuff people used in the olden days" exhibits into one small section.

There's a small model of the HMS Discovery (Captain George Vancouver's ship) to walk through, which reminded me of last week's episode of Doctor Who with the pirates.

Model of the original city, back when it was Fort Victoria in the 1840's and a fur trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company.

Naturally, there a mock up of a silent movie palace to show school children what silent films look like. This one always plays clips from The Gold Rush.

Next door to the museum is Helcken House, which reopened that day, one of the oldest houses in BC still on it's original site. There wasn't a lot of stuff in it, but it did have this beautiful kitchen floor and a cool medicine chest.

Building plans for the parliament buildings to hold BC's legislative assembly, built between 1893 and 1896.

I didn't go on the free tour because the legislature wasn't sitting and there were a few field trip groups of rowdy teenagers and screaming children waiting for a tour.

I didn't go into any stores, because I didn't want to find anything I wanted and would then have to carry around in the heat and then drag back with me. But I did go into Munro's Books (yes, that Munro) and since Duthie's closed in Vancouver, the closet general independent bookstore. I bought Some Sunny Day by Dame Vera Lynn and The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain.

I still can't believe that I had to spend a total of two hours on buses and three hours on ferries just to shop at an independent bookstore.

You can see more of my picture in this set on Flickr.