Christmas has always been special to the people of this country. It’s the official holiday season, stores mostly open 24*7, time to decorate houses with lights and x-mas trees, time to sing carols, time to exchange gifts, time to be with family & friends and time to be sluggish after having scrumptious holiday meals. Being from a different culture, my references for Christmas have always come from songs like “All I want for Christmas is you” or from movies like Home Alone. Hence, it is safe to say that my experience of Christmas is limited. Last year I was in Las Vegas and Christmas in Vegas was just a huge gala. I only saw one Christmas tree. This time I decided to visit a non-touristy city…Portland (Oregon) and Christmas in Portland was serenity in itself. It is a hidden gem and a most idyllic valley city, famous for its parks, bridges, bicycle paths, art & theater, cafes and public transit system. What made it idyllic for me is the fact that it is surrounded with snowcapped mountains and it sits between the Columbia and Williamette rivers.
I completed my bookings for Portland by September and was really excited as this would be the first city with my new camera. I didn’t know that weather during Christmas might be unfriendly, raining cats and dogs. To my horror, the weather predictions were actually “raining cats and dogs”. Luckily or should I say maybe due to a Christmas miracle, the weather turned out to be both sublime and bleak at the same time. No rain but very cold and dreary. After an uneventful flight, I reached downtown around noon and was ready for my lunch after checking into my hotel. First impression- I loved it because It didn’t seem like any other downtown. It was clean, no foul smells and unlike other major cities, there were very few less-fortunate homeless people. To satisfy my tastes buds I went across the street from my hotel to an Italian restaurant, Pastini Pastaria. With respect to ambiance it was nice and cozy but the food was not so hot. I am being biased here, as I am not a big fan of Italian food. I had spaghetti and meatballs (a standard Italian meal) with bread-sticks. The bread-sticks were pretty impressive but the meatballs were not that great. This was the first time I had fennel seeds in meatballs and although I am not an expert on Italian food, it didn’t taste right. But, hey as I said earlier, I don’t have an appetite for Italian food.
As I have stated in my previous posts, I love cities that are walk-able and Portland indeed is one of them. After having my mediocre meal, I started wandering the streets of Portland. My wanderlust lead me to “The Magic Is In The Hole” Voodoo Doughnuts, one of the most famous places in all of Portland. The 12 block walk to Voodoo was enough to get a quick glimpse of the city, people and culture. Voodoo is a surreal place as some of their recipes, especially the Bacon-Maple-Bar doughnut. But I contented myself with a Dirt-Doughnut doughnut (fancy name for cream Oreo doughnut). Voodoo is in the old part of town, which gives a feel of a red light area, where one can find adult movie theaters, exotic shops, strip clubs etc. One can still feel safe even though old town has a quirky feel to it. Next stop: Powell’s Books, a pretty neat bookstore and a lucky find for me. It is a world of its own, one of the largest bookstores I have ever been to, with a cute little cafe in the back. I called it a night after having a sumptuous meal at Jake’s Famous Crawfish. I had escargots in garlic & parsley butter (French delicacy) followed by liver and onions.
After having a filling American breakfast, I went to see one of the neighbourhoods of Portland, St Johns. St Johns is a typical small town with a limited number of attractions but the most prominent ones were St Johns Bridge-a smaller version of the Golden Gate and the St Johns movie theatre. They say its architecture is inspired by Italian churches. It didn’t take much time to walk St Johns and after which I stumbled upon a hole in the wall cafe to have some hot chocolate. (Something is weird; in this post I am talking about food a lot, nevertheless I can’t help it.) Later in the evening I went along The Riverwalk where one can see many of Portland famous bridges. That night I went to see a movie- the Big Short in a movie theater called Living Room. They have pretty small screens and seating space. They took a literal meaning of living room and tried to provide the same ambiance. One nice and weird concept they have is, you can check in 30 mins before the movie and you can order food, which can be served at your seats with a table in front of you. I mean its serious food not some typical movie theater savouries.
It was time to say goodbye to Portland, as I had to embark on a road trip to Seattle. With a small detour of 80 miles I was able to get some scenic view of Mount St. Helen- which is a volcano and, if you’re interested please check out the Youtube videos of its 1980 eruption. With the view of the majestic mountain, I was also able to be close to the Columbia River, with views of waterfalls, snowcapped mountains, the Bonneville dam and Bridge of the Gods. I would recommend that one should take I14 (on Washington side) and I84 (on Oregon side) crossing the river at the bridge. During my detour, I learnt a story about two explorers and their journey along the Columbia River, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. One of the intriguing incidents from their exploration was that they ran Class 5 rapids (most difficult class of river rapids) with dug-out wooden canoes. Native Americans watching them assumed that they would all die in the attempt but in the end they beat all the odds and gallantly ran the rapids. By the time I reached Bothell (a nearby city to Seattle) it was 8 PM and my stomach was ready for another meal, this time at Tavern on the square. For dinner my menu was simple as I went with Squash soup, garden salad, clams (must try) and lamb chops (big letdown). The highlight was clams which I never had had before. If you are in Bothell then please go and visit Mcmenamins Anderson School, a Hotel & Restaurants on a former school property.
The last day was simple, I did typical stuff, went to some cafes, record shops n restaurants on Capitol Hill. Just love the vibe of that area. All in all, my trip was really fruitful in every single way.
