We arrived on time in Portland on Tuesday, at about 11 pm, and, having been up for almost 30 hours we were pooped. We took an Uber from the airport to our fancy Jupiter Hotel - a former motor lodge - in the up&coming Central Eastside, originally an industrial neighborhood.
Up early on Wednesday morning, we started to explore the city at 8 am. We had a full, but highly interesting day and contradictory to the weather forecast, it was just a little cloudy and warm. We walked about 10 miles, despite taking the train/street car in between. Had a wonderful lunch with our good friends Karen and Billie with Travel Portland at the Q Restaurant - one of the very first "farm-to-table" restaurants - and met many friendly, talkative people.
One guy let us into the beautiful Chinese Garden early morning, though still being closed, the AAA (automobile club) employee gave us much more helpful maps than we requested, we talked to friendly guys from famous Voodoo Doughnuts, from Olympia Provisions (a sausage/deli company) on the splendid farmers' market, and, later, got free coffee and good conversation at Will's leather goods. In total, it's been a very delightful and productive day.
„Keep Portland Weird“ is the motto of the city and visitors assuming, San Francisco or Brooklyn are „weird“, will be amazed. Many good breweries (there are 50+ of them around) are a well-known secret, but distilleries, coffee roasters, dairies, chocolatiers, farmers markets and other food related branches, are creating a highly innovative culinary scene. In addition, there are the unique food cart pods, food vendors gathering on every empty space on parking lots. Same for shopping: "Made in Oregon", artistic and creative, vintage and retro, sneakers and outdoor equipment, leather and artwork, you'll find it all. Especially Nob Hill is a good destination for shopping.
We mainly explored the "core" of Portland: Pioneer Square, Pearl District, Old Town Chinatown, the Cultural District, the Waterfront, Yamhill and Nob Hill (see pics below), and, tired to the bones, but happy, we ended up at Powells at 8 pm, allegedly the World’s largest bookstore - heaven on earth for book lovers! - after a little beer tasting at Van Ebert's brewery.
And some Wednesday impressions from Portland in a colorful mix - for lack of time they'll have to speak for themselves:
Donuts at Voodoo and at Blue Star Donuts:
Old Town Chinatown:
Nob Hill:
Pearl District with its "Brewery Block":
Downtown: Pioneer Square and modern Federal Building:
Farmers' Market with a variety of heirloom tomatoe plants in downtown:
Willamette River panorama:
Typically Portland: biking, water fountains & streetcars:
We mainly explored the "core" of Portland: Pioneer Square, Pearl District, Old Town Chinatown, the Cultural District, the Waterfront, Yamhill and Nob Hill (see pics below), and, tired to the bones, but happy, we ended up at Powells at 8 pm, allegedly the World’s largest bookstore - heaven on earth for book lovers! - after a little beer tasting at Van Ebert's brewery. 
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