Another rainy day in Portland

We woke to rain again today; it’s just like being at home (only not so comfortable).  We had a leisurely start, no rush to get wet after all, but did head into town for another shot at the Aerial Tram.  We parked in more or less the same place and made very sure to walk in the opposite direction from yesterday’s walk.  Before too long the rain had stopped and the sun was trying very hard to escape from behind the clouds.  We wandered along the waterfront which had some very pretty spots.  We even found a café where the barista made us an almost home-like latte, in ceramic cups!  (Almost everywhere here does take-away cups by default, even when we aren’t having take-aways).  There was a nice guy there too, visiting from California, who told us the café’s wi-fi password.

 

It didn’t take us too long to find the Aerial tram, which connects two parts of the Oregon State Health Services.  One of these is down on the riverbank while the other is right up at the top of the hill.  It has two cars in tandem like the Wellington Cable Car, only they are suspended gondola cars.  The views from this are amazing; the only disappointment is that it really only takes you to the Oregon State Health Services building.  So it was a case of up, take in the view from the platform for 5 – 10 minutes, then back down.

From there, we caught the free (we think) street tram back to downtown.  We got off at the South Park blocks – about 6 small city blocks that are all green spaces.  We don’t think they get a lot of sun though, but at this time of year we are maybe judging too harshly.

The woman at the rose gardens yesterday suggested the Public Library as an interesting building to visit, so we went in there.  It has a gorgeous sculpture in the children’s library, a tree with all sorts of wildlife in and around it.  The main stairs are beautiful too, dark stone with etchings on every tread.

By the time we had finished there, the rain was returning.  We made our way to the Rock Bottom Brewery and restaurant for lunch, and who should be at the next table but the man we had met at the café in the morning!  Now Portland isn’t a huge city but it does have plenty of eateries.  It was a funny coincidence.

After lunch we visited the Pittock Mansion, the former home of a founding Portland couple and their family.  This was very beautiful, and well-maintained, and a great place to sight-see on a rainy day.  We leave tomorrow for Seattle – we have our fingers crossed for better weather but we have been warned not to get our hopes up too high.