10.05.2011

Art and Soul Part Two...Around Town

So, as mentioned in the previous post I spent last week from Tuesday-Sunday in the beautiful city of Portland.  And just because I bought an amazing Boden raincoat, it did not rain.  Nope.  In fact, it was quite warm there!  So, around town.  Tuesday before my class I was just a itching to get somewhere....a 5 hour plane ride will do that to a person, right?  So the hotel shuttle took me to the train and off I went.  We have mass transit here in Atlanta called Marta.  And I've ridden it a fair amount of times.  So this was a piece of cake. 

The city of Portland is very beautiful.  I got off at Pioneer Station and just started walking.  I found amazing artsy boutiques, vintage clothing stores and more.  It was such a treat to walk through all these stores quietly, touching everything and buying lots of sweet treats for my family and friends back home.  Here is what I observed about the city:

1.  It's friendly for sure.  Like people bend over BACKWARDS to help.  I asked where the nearest Post Office was and the grocery I was in bent over backwards to find out and the hours.   Here, a lady with too long a fingernails smacking her gum would tell me she never went to no post office.  Seriously.  In that language.
2.  No one talks or texts while walking the streets or on the train.  On Marta it's like a street festival of noises.  You can make a band out of the music, cell phone talking and text tapping. 
3.  The streets are eerily quiet.  No traffic, horns, heavy machinery, jack hammering, and crazy noises like in Atlanta the city.  Now here in Newnan we have quiet of course, it is suburban world.  But in comparing city to city...it's way quiet. 
4.  They have lots of fabulous restaurants with OUTSIDE seating.  In fact, I don't remember seeing a TGI Fridays anywhere.  Or chick-fil-a.  Don't know if I could go a week without Chick-fil-a....but the big box chains, yeah.  Can do without.  Restaurants and breweries were everywhere.  And that made me so, so happy.  Because I love good food.  And good beer.

These are shots from around town with new and old friends.  I won't bore you with much more typing.  But know that renting a car was the BEST idea ever....thanks for the idea Tiffin.  Without it I'd not have made my Tattoo appointment.  Oopsy...did I say that word?  Yeah, whole post coming on that adventure.  We did drive all over town finding vintage stores unlike any we have here.  And cheap.  Junk is much cheaper there than here.  But somehow I managed to come home with less than I left with.  Strange.    Anyhoo, enjoy the shots below.  Later this week I'll show off my students and their work!!  (and the tattoo)

 Teresa, Me, Tiffin and Sheryl after Wednesday classes at the Widmer Brewery.  They are twins...you will see these chicks again in my class later this week!  I could bottle their zest for life and make a killing!

Some of the street finds....there were so many.  I should have taken more pics!

So in our car adventures on Thursday we found this super street vendor food court.  Seriously??  And gourmet.  We had brick oven pizza, the yummy fries with squeaky cheese and grazy and should my belly have not been full we could have had crepes!  I know....I know....

Since we were cruising in our little Ford Fusion we took some time to visit the neighborhoods.  At one point we got out and walked the streets just taking photo after photo of houses of all kinds.  See:
The last stop was at a whole market for dinner treats and flower photos.  I think Tiffin took an entire camera card for reference.  I didn't see one "hand-dyed" carnation in the bunch!
OOOOO....I almost forgot the best stop.  The Lounge Lizard.  Where I scooped up 3 of the swags hanging from the ceiling.  And I could have bought more!  I can not wait to hang them in our bedroom.  Promise to show you soon!
So the Lounge Lizard was packed full of furniture I could have decorated my entire house in.  And so reasonable.  Their housing may be more there, but the stuff to fill it sure isn't!  The yellow tufted low sofa I wanted so very, very bad. And the red one wasn't too shabby either!

So....up next will be my teaching post.  I can not wait to show off their work!!

4 comments:

Isabel said...

Thanks for sharing:O) Portland sounds so amazing i hope to someday visit there,I dont think I can do without chick fil la either:O)

Felicia said...

I'm loving hearing about Portland - its on my list of places to see when I eventually get to the U.S of A! and you definately aren't boring me with "more typing" - type away, I wan't to hear it all!!

Dianne said...

Wow! It looks like so much fun!

Suzanne said...

I so miss Portland. I noticed all the outdoor seating restaurants, too. But also, all the breakfast places with outdoor seating. You go on a weekday at 10:30, and you think: who are all these people? why aren't they at work? Apparently, going out to breakfast is really big in Portland.

Related Posts with Thumbnails