Nice. Portland is very nice. That's the best way I can describe it. It's not amazing and vibrant like New York City, it isn't abandoned and depressing like Detroit and it doesn't suck like Des Moines. It's just really really nice. That's why I have so few photos from Portland, because it's hard to photograph 'niceness'.

Things started well on the first evening. I got the Greyhound bus down from Seattle and arrived in the Portland hostel quite late. I asked the guy on reception if there was anywhere local to get some quick food. He replied that there was free pizza in the kitchen!

I spent a lot of my time walking around town. It's a very walkable city with a compact, and pretty, downtown so it's quick to get around. And if you don't want to talk then all public transport is free in the central downtown area. I used the free light rail to get out to the mall and finally buy a new pair of trousers because the tear in the left knee of my existing pair was threatening to go all the way around and turn it into half a pair of shorts. I don't care if that is the style, I feel like a tramp in them and since I only carry one pair of trousers with me I need them to be good enough to go into a half-decent restaurant and get me served.

Besides a trip to the mall and walking around I also went to the Portland Art Museum. It was okay; better than the Seattle one but not as good as Milwaukee's. That's just my opinion based on the art that I like to see and the art that I think is a pointless waste. On the art theme I joined a free hostel-run guided tour around the small local art galleries. This was on First Thursday evening when - on the first thursday of the month (naturally) - lots of galleries throw their doors open for people to have a look around and wonder at who would pay $3000 for what looks like a coloured-in Ikea duvet designed to go on the wall. There was also a few blocks stretch of road cordoned off for stalls selling all kinds of arty things and for some live music. Many hundreds of people were out - the event is extremely popular with the local community - and there was a fantastic atmosphere. At the end of the tour the guide left us at a bar and we were forced to enjoy some of the forty varieties of beer they brew. And I was forced to enjoy a great cheeseburger too. It was a tough evening. Especially because we got 75 cents off each beer because we were staying at the hostel. Tough, I tell you.

We returned of our own volition to the same establishment - Rogues, if anyone wants to go there - the following evening. The beer flowed again. Either we got lucky both evenings or the waitresses there are all really great, especially considering we gave them a hard time - but in a nice fun way, honest. Not since Philadelphia have I had a member of wait staff who was so much fun, and here I had two in one place. That's a good sign that it's a nice city if the people working there are happy and upbeat.

I don't know what else to say about what I did. There were no spectacular events or exciting moments. It was all just... nice. I met some really fun people in the hostel and it was a shame to only have such a short time there but everyone was moving on the same day as me so there's was no point sticking around. I really loved Portland. It's one of the few places I've been on this trip that I think I would like to live in. Downtown has a good vibe to it and it seems like every street has one or more cafes or restaurants on it with a whole row of tables outside. And every time I went past one of those places, whatever time of day, several of the tables were occupied. The weather was always sunny; not hot but definitely pleasant. It was the sort of weather in which you could sit on a bench outside a bar all evening until 1am without needing anything more than a sweater to stay comfortably warm. Hypothetically, of course, because I was always in bed by ten, like a good little boy.