Matthias Schwab

Quirky, small and fun. I loved the art cars and would love to see the 200-300 art cars during the April parade. The collages of the museum founder were interesting, but they did not quite drew me in. It was the 3 art cars that made the trip very worthwhile. I also appreciated the funky building architecture. We received a wonderful and informative welcome by the receptionist.

Beware -- the museum likes you to make a reservation in advance since parking is very limited. However, we were lucky and found plenty of street parking.

My impression: Better than a few months ago, but not as great as it used to be.

Pioneer Square was great in Portland's heydays. Full of life as people buzzed around walking, meeting, shopping. It was a friendly place that during the holidays had a sparkle of magic when the city erected a massive Xmas tree. There were homeless people, but not the blatant drug abuse. And there were enough people around that one felt safe.

I recently spent 15-20 mins at Pioneer Square waiting for the last No. 8 bus around 11 pm. I am 6 foot 2 male and usually people leave me alone. But I can get uncomfortable or nervous when I perceive a situation as dangerous. I was positively surprised by my 15-20 mins wait: For the most part I was fine. At some point a drunk and dishevelled man came down the street who banged something against a garbage bin. I changed the side of the street and he passed. There was otherwise quite a bit foot traffic as people left the Nines and one or two people waited for a bus. Overall, I felt safe.

I still feel the city has to do much more to make everyone feel safe in Portland at any hour. This is not the place to discuss the underlying politics, but I think we can all agree that the current situation is not what citizens and visitors want and our leadership has to find ways to improve the situation asap.

I certainly appreciated our visit for a coffee. The hotel preserves it's history and sitting in the lobby early one can easily imagine oneself in the turbulent early twentieth century.
Another time I walked by and heard silky smooth jazz protruding from their veranda.
However, the location high up in the commercial district and our preference for modern rooms made us choose a different hotel.

Probably most important: The bus station is connected to downtown and the airport by an underground subway station just outside of the bus terminal.

The restaurant and supermarket are somewhat overpriced -- at least one vendor charged me a "tourist" price. But the vendors are very convenient.