i am outta here!

hey all

well, sitting in a nice 'dinerant' (cross between diner and restaurant!) here in portland. hanging around waiting for my train to leave at 2.25pm - it's much cooler here today and yesterday. i'm glad to be leaving - don't know what it is about this place, but i haven't really liked it.

things that haven't helped: stinking cold, crappy hotel, strange vibe in the town - it seems quite smug - and the homeless/drug problem is small but obvious. it's very wealthy here and the gap between the haves and have nots is very noticeable. pretty town, very friendly people, but i'm just not getting it... time to move on!

anyway, should probably give you the lowdown on the last couple of days - but i have slowed down a lot due to feeling pretty crappy and full of cold!

the first day i got here i spent wandering around the town, initially looking for a chemist so that i could buy some tylenol (paracetamol!) - jeez, there are no bloody chemists downtown! eventually found one only to discover a rite-aid moments later (rite-aid is cheap!)

stopped at starbucks in town square and watched the world go by until my drugs kicked in then continued wandering - but found nothing of particular interest...

in the evening i found my saviour... the living room theatre... a lovely cinema (reminded me a bit of the curzon soho) with nice restaurant attached, i had dinner there and watched a lovely movie (cairo time) which was most relaxing - this was the high-point of my day! oh, the coolest thing about this cinema was not only did it show interesting films alongside the mainstream, but that you could actually have your dinner in the cinema - i didn't - i had mine in the restaurant, but i took my hot chocolate in to the movie!

the living room theatre:


yesterday i got up a bit earlier, but have been sleeping in to rest and help my cold get better! jumped on the light rail into town and went to the saturday markets which were great, lots of arty stuff and nice food. pootled around there for a few hours - bought some jewellery - chatted to a few stall-holders - had some food. then went off and found a nice bit of town which included a shop called 'fat fancy' which is a second hand clothes shop for the larger lady - beth ditto shops there - they had a pic of her behind the counter. the woman in there was so sweet - we ended up chatting and she gave me a list of places i should go - none of which i went to, but i would have if i'd had more time! they have a cool way of sizing in there - no numbered sizes, but they judge by eye and put similar sizes together under their own system of names: plush, diva, - oh, i can't remember what they were - but i thought it was great!

saturday markets:


cool knitting shop:


then jibbed my fare on the light rail up to washington park which is on the edge of the city and houses the international rose test garden. well i got there and it was a bit late, and no one around and i realised that the rose garden was miles away... then i turned round and there was a bus which just happened to be going through the park to the rose garden! yippee! the rose garden was quite quite beautiful, on a hill overlooking the city, with mount hood in the background.

gorgeous roses, all the hybrids are tested here and the good ones are kept and the others are destroyed (shame!) but there were beds and beds of gorgeous colours and smells and just beautiful beautiful roses. i had an hour there before the last bus took me back down to the light rail station and then back to the city...

at the rose garden:


these beauties may end up being destroyed:






was a nice day really!

next stop klamath falls, where i'm going to break my journey for the night before continuing on to sacramento...

over and out for now
vx