"What would I even do in Portland?"

So, are you only in town for the day?  Don't worry, because here's your...

The PDX Airport carpet is a whole thing.  Don't photograph the wrong pattern (there are a few in the airport, but only ONE is correct for your selfie, Grasshopper.  Unless you want to get it wrong ironically, in which case +10 Portland Points for you).

Vector art by unknown artist.  You read my mind, unknown artist.

Are you in town a little longer?  Get out into some of the beautiful nature surrounding Portland!  Like...

Here's the Oregon Metro brochure for the 4T Trail Hike.
Also, you can of course start this loop in a different place.  If you're staying in the South Waterfront, for example, you could start with the TROLLY and end with the TRAM.  Here's a site with good info on the hike.

I'm going to keep the rest of my recommendations to text, so I can come back and edit them when I inevitably think of something I missed.  Leave a comment if you live in Portland or have visited before and have suggestions for things to do in town!

If you haven't visited before and these things sounds like fun, check out the many great resources available to help you plan a trip!

Detroit Lake, photo by Ron Chan

NATURE
Near to downtown (no car necessary): Wildwood Trail, Pittock Acres Park, Washington Park, Forest Park, Mt. Tabor, Japanese Garden, Rose Garden, Lan Su Chinese Garden, Springwater Corridor
Nature you probably need a car to access: Mt. Hood, Timberline Lodge, Mt Bachelor, The Gorge, Oregon Coast, Painted Hills, Crater Lake, Tamolitch Pool hike, Rogue river rafting, Multnomah Falls, Bridge of the Gods, Sauvie Island, Cougar Hot Spring (clothing optional), Silver Falls, Pacific Crest Trail, Camp Sherman Campgrounds, Lost Lake Campgrounds, Devil's Punch Bowl, Haystack Rock, Sea Lion Caves (outside of Florence, OR)
For the best weather, visit between July - October.  You can have fun at other times, but if you visit during the winter or spring, pack a good umbrella, boots, and warm rain jacket.  What you've heard about the rain is not an exaggeration.

EAT/DRINK:
Cafes: Tea Zone, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Public Domain, Coffeehouse Northwest, Sterling Coffee Roasters, Barista, Fresh Pot, the usual chains
Restaurants: Higgins, Montage, Portland City Grill, Blue Hour, Mother's Bistro, Olympic Provisions, Tasty n' Sons, Pok Pok, Sushi Land, Sakura Sushi, Old Town Pizza, Sizzle Pie, Little Big Burger, Brunch Box, Elephants Delicatessen, Saint Honoré Bakery, Papa Haydn, Southpark, Kenny & Zuke's Delicatessen
Food Carts: Thai Sky, E-San Thai, Nong's Khao Man Gai, PBJs Grilled, Gauffre Gourmet, Mr. Taco, Don Pedro
Dessert: Salt & Straw, Ruby Jewel, Papa Haydn
Pubs: Deschutes Brewery, Bridgeport Brewery, Burnside Brewery, Henry's, McMenamins (many locations)
Bars: Rontoms, Doug Fir Lounge, Camellia Lounge, Vault Martini, Paystation, Departure, Portland City Grill, Saucebox, Tugboat, Shanghai Tunnels, Whiskey Soda Lounge, Momo's, White Owl Social Club, Rialto, Bungalow Bar, The Matador
Brunch: Sunshine Tavern, Slappy Cakes, Screen Door, Junior's, Stepping Stone Cafe
Local foods: visit the Portland Farmer's Market, Tillamook Cheese Factory, and the many breweries/distilleries that offer tours.  Also, have you ever eaten a marionberry?

Geeky fun: Wild/Grimm/Leverage/Portlandia/Goonies/Shining sets, Ground Kontrol, Sequential Art Gallery, Floating World Comics, TFAW, IPRC, Oregon Museum of Science & Industry ("OMSI").  Check out Geek Portland for events!

EVENTS
Weekly Events: Saturday Market
Monthly Events: First Thursday, Last Thursday, OMSI After Dark
Annual Events: Naked Bike Ride, Beer Festival, Bluegrass Festival, Rose Parade/Rose Festival, Zoo Lights, Rose City Comic Con, Hump Fest, PDX Soapbox Derby, Oregon Zoo Concert Series
Other Events: Blazers / Timbers / Thorns matches
Pick up a free issue of a weekly paper like The Portland Mercury, Willamette Week, or Just Out for more ideas.  You can also find events online at PDXPipeline.com.

Concert venues: Crystal Ballroom, Doug Fir Lounge, Aladdin Theater, Wonder Ballroom, Roseland Theater, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Keller Auditorium, Moda Center

Shopping: Nob Hill (NW 21st and 23rd avenues), SE Hawthorne, Pearl District, Mississippi Ave

Mississippi Avenue has a lot to offer, from brunch (Gravy) and restaurant spots (Mac!, Samurai Blue, Por Que No) to ice cream (Ruby Jewel), comics (Bridge City Comics), clothes shopping, galleries, insane hipster crap, taxidermy + curios (Paxton Gate), the nicest sex shop you will ever visit (She Bop), and great bars (Bungalo Bar has a huge outdoor area with fires and table/chair SWINGS!).  I recommend spending a day on this street if you want to get out of Central Downtown and experience a fun Portland neighborhood (the #4 bus runs regularly between Mississippi and downtown).  If you visit in July you can even catch the annual street fair!

More fun/weird stuff: McMenamins Kennedy School, "brew 'n' view" theaters, Morgan's Alley, Living Room Theater, The Roxy (24-hour diner), Portland Rock Gym, Glowing Greens (glow-in-the-dark, underground, Pirate-themed putt-putt golf), Voice Box, Vista Bridge, Prasad (part yoga studio part vegan-friendly restaurant), Eagle's Lodge, Jupiter Hotel, 24 Hour Church of Elvis, Hat Museum, Portland Spirit Cruise, Portland Segway Tours, flotation tanks, ChocoLab

Places that take some arranging to visit (do not just knock on the door), but maybe you have a friend or professional connection within the company?: LAIKA, Dark Horse, Oni Press, Top Shelf, Wieden + Kennedy, Nike campus, Nike/Adidas employee stores, Periscope Studio.

The Alsace region: Strasbourg, Baden-Baden, Colmar, Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr, Kaysersberg, and Eguisheim

If you really want to laugh, try bringing a vegetarian to Alsace.  The food is...hearty.
Speaking of, the heart motifs in this comic are an understatement.  Really.  In that department, Alsace is rivaled only by this concept art on Victoria Ying's blog for the "Love town" in Frozen.  It was delightful. xD

Now without further ado, here's my post about visiting Strasbourg, Baden-Baden, and the Alsace region for the first time!

The TGV train from Paris to Strasbourg takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes, and costs anything from €30 - €80 (before discounts) depending on when you book.  The train I took had a speedometer for curious travelers, and I was shocked to see that we were traveling 315 km/h at times.  Apparently, the average speed for TGV trains is 279.4 km/h (173.6 mph) and they regularly hit 320 km/h (200mph).  That'll get you to the eastern edge of France pretty quickly, alright!
If you're coming to Strasbourg from far away, flying in directly is also an option.  Strasbourg-Entzheim International Airport is just outside of the city with a shuttle train rapidly taking passengers into downtown.  This was the route my mom took, as she came all the way from Portland to meet me in Alsace.

Like many regions of France bordering other nations, Alsace has changed hands several times and offers unique blends of French and German language, culture, cuisine, and architecture.  Note that the most recent change of hands was German occupation during WW2.  Tread carefully with comparisons to Germany as this can be a sensitive subject.  These days, Strasbourg is tranquil, lovely, and multicultural, housing the European Parliament and considered the legislative and democratic capital of the EU.  There are several universities in Strasbourg, with many international students.  The historic center of Strasbourg, "la Grande Île", is an island formed by a split in the Ill river .  It is lovely, and the whole island is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  The Petite-France area downtown was definitely a highlight for us. The half-timbered houses on the canal are particularly striking.

 

At the end of April there was gorgeous wisteria blooming all over Alsace.

Specific recommendations:

• We stayed with Régis & Héloïse via Air BnB, and wholeheartedly recommend them for anyone traveling in Strasbourg!  Régis works for Michel et Augustin, and he sent us on our merry way with tons of tasty samples.  Yum!
• We were only in town for one night, and we took Régis and Héloïse's dinner recommendation: Binchstub.  The restaurant has a lot of organic options and an emphasis on local foods.  A bit of an indifferent hipster vibe, but we ate well.  After a chilly day I was happy to nestle up to the counter, bump elbows with the other customers in the tiny restaurant, and eat a warm meal.
• Strasbourg Cathedral - uh, WOAH.  The cathedral is giant and impressive now; I can only imagine how slack-jawed people must have been in 1439 at its completion.
• Astronomical clock - a mechanical marvel you have to see to believe.  There's a daily spectacle at 12:30 PM when the clock puts on a show (arrive early!), but even on the hour we saw impressive movement accompanying the chimes.
• River boat tour - I can go either way on boat tours, but I'm almost always glad when I decide to take them.  This one was notable because it allowed us to breeze around the European Parliament building, which I get the impression is not a fun trip on foot.  We also traversed the canal system around Strasbourg and went up and down locks, which I'd never seen up close before.

Nettle soup at Binchstub

Our time in Strasbourg flew by.  Before we knew it, it was time to leave for Baden-Baden, the spa town 30 minutes away in western Germany.  I thought we could take a local train, but a rental car turned out to be much more practical, so once again I found myself nervously adjusting my mirrors and locating the gear shifts in a manual French rental car.  Surprise twist: the route to Baden-Baden included a German autobahn! x_x WOW.  I have never in my life a) driven that fast or b) seen cars fly past me that fast.  It was awesome, not going to lie.

We really only went to Baden-Baden to visit the Roman thermal baths at Friedrichsbad, where I could not take photos for obvious reasons, so for visuals I'll link you to the city's website.  The baths consisted of 17 "steps" that we progressed through--everything from hosing down in public showers to massages to soaking in hot and cold thermal tubs.  I wasn't expecting the baths themselves to be so pretty--there were exquisite tile walls/floors, recreations of Greek statues, and domed ceilings.  It made a nice atmosphere for relaxing and getting comfortable with group nudity.
We entered the Black Forest to get to Baden-Baden.  I really found myself flashing back to a trip I took with my mom years ago to Hakone, a mountain town outside of Tokyo that's peppered with onsen. In my mind I had imagined pulling the car over somewhere to hike a bit, but we spent too many of our daylight hours seeing the last of Strasbourg, renting the car, and getting a little lost in a suburb near Baden-Baden.  Oh well--another trip another time maybe.  I did feel extremely blessed to see a full, yellow moon rising over the Black Forest as we left Baden-Baden for our next stop: Colmar.

Maison Pfister, which made an appearance in Howl's Moving Castle!

Colmar is a small city about an hour south of Strasbourg, still in the Alsace region of France.  It was founded in the 9th century, and you can see lovely buildings from many different eras as you walk the town.  We enjoyed the Musée d'Unterlinden, which was small and under construction but offered close looks at some really exquisite metal work and everyday objects like doorknobs, sleds, and business placards from centuries past, as well as reconstructed rooms (from the Napoleonic age if I'm remembering right?).

One funny thing about our trip--we were in Alsace during Pâques (Easter), and apparently it's a biiiig thing there.  MANY services/shops were entirely or partially closed the entire week ahead of Easter Sunday.  On the other hand, we got to see celebratory seasonal markets, craft shows, and city installations.  And all of my souvenirs were delightful Pâques chocolates. :)

We ended up being very happy to have the rental car, because we were really hoping to visit the picturesque villages surrounding Colmar (read this post on Paul's Travel Pics; it was our inspiration for the trip).  Although getting between the towns is possible via public transportation and/or bike rental , we were much more flexible with the car.

It would be impossible to pick a favorite moment from this trip, but I think what I appreciated the most was just the unhurried time we spent in the small towns of Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr, Kaysersberg, and Eguisheim.  We only spent about 1-3 hours in each town, (we barely squeezed Eguisheim in the morning before our train to Paris), but we had virtually no itinerary in the towns and once we parked the car, we got out to stroll and see what we saw, completely open to what the town had to offer.  Walking Ribeauvillé turned into a lazy lunch with white wine people-watching and chatting on an open square, then hiking behind the town on the path up to the ruins of the castles Saint-Ulrich, Girsberg and Haut-Ribeaupierre.  Kaysersberg turned into sitting quietly by the river at dusk, drawing a fantastic timbered house's facade, and then taking an Alsatian dinner in a restaurant in town.

All in all, an amazing region and one I hope I get to spend more time in someday.

We count our dollars on the train to the party

VOYAGE FRANCE week 3

Woof, I'm writing this after a grueling hike to the top of Seyssel's Montagne des Princes (900m elevation).  On Saturday morning I set out with a bunch of parents from the area to pass a test that would allow us to chaperone our kids' school snowshoeing trips this winter.  The test was mostly about finishing the hike in under 2 hours, but we also had to answer emergency scenario questions (in French!) one-on-one with a Department employee, and I felt lucky to get even half of the points on that.  Honestly, I would have gotten a couple of the questions wrong in English!  I hope I'm never the only chaperone on those trips... (0_o)

 

Nice view from the top! Cows jingling their bells by a drinking pond, sprawling landscape, snow-capped Alps in the distance.

My host mom bought a second car for me to use!!!  I am mobile!  I started learning to drive manual transmission cars in August under the tutelage of my friends Cat and Jeremy, since pretty much all cars in France are manual and I knew that driving would be a part of my job.  Currently I'm comfortable enough to run errands alone, but it's still stressful for me every time I get into the driver's seat (not least of all because the roads here are scary.  I don't even want to risk freaking my parents out by describing them).  I stall on every single hill stop.  Ugh.  But by next summer, I want to be a pro!!

I had my first difficult night watching my kids, and it all started with telling a 12-year-old he could NOT play his new video game (Grand Theft Auto 5). (-_-) My two kids had two friends over, and while the girls were getting into trouble upstairs, the boys were locking themselves in the TV room with the video game downstairs.  I had to watch both groups while making dinner and cleaning up after.  It was overwhelming.  I will say, though, that I'm very thankful that in 3 weeks I only JUST had my first difficult night, and it was an abnormal situation.

In happy news, I met another au pair (let's call her "A"?) who lives next door to the one I met last week ("C").  I really like them both, and they were super welcoming to me.  We had a night in and a night out this week and they were both fantastic.  We bonded more than you would imagine over missing Mexican food, and are laying plans to recreate it as best we can between the three of us!  And there's a good chance we'll be in the same French class (starting tomorrow!!).

Annecy nightlife gets my prance of approval.

The way that comics are used/treated in France makes me SO. HAPPY.  My 6-year-old is learning comics terminology in school right now.  Her textbook uses text, images, and comics to teach.  She and her 12-year-old brother both have projects in school where they have to make comics (like, a report, but in comic form!).
Here's a sign at the entrance to the forest near Seyssel:

My host mom made a good point that since there are so many tourists in France who don't speak French, comics are a great communication tool.  If the words don't make sense, the images alone might.  And here's a full page in this week's Elle magazine for Penelope Bagieu and Joann Sfar's new BD, Stars of the Stars:

More photos from this week:

I was proud to introduce my host family to Lorde's Royals this week!  It started playing on the radio a few days later.

MEANWHILE IN PORTLAND: Rose City Comic Con was this weekend!  Check out this aaaaaawesome It Girl cosplay by Ellie, with author Jamie S. Rich: