Lest it be thought that I spent my entire time eating whilst in Portland (and to be totally fair, the 2 kg that I appear to have gained do point to the fact that I did), I thought I better address the other things I got up to whilst there.
This is a smaller list. Damn it – I was way too busy eating.
Portland is a beautiful city. It’s also walkable, a trait not normally found in American cities. Apart from food, there’s a seemingly never ending stock of bars where craft beer is the thing to be drinking. I didn’t make it out to the outlet mall close by the city, though I can assure you that there’s way enough shopping opportunities while wandering around the place!
The other thing about Portland is that it’s quiet and calm. OK, so I was there in the winter and I’ve heard it’s really great in the summer. I loved the peacefulness of the place, and the friendliness of the people.
There are also some really funky places to try. I loved this concept of a bar-cum-painting lesson. Yup. You get all your friends together and go spend the evening painting. Genius.
The place opens in the evenings and the couple of nights I walked past, it was packed – and a lot of smiling faces enjoying themselves!!
Next time I get the chance to head here, then I’m seriously thinking of taking a go. I’m not artistic in the least, but it doesn’t matter. All good stuff!
If shopping floats your boat, there are some superb locations. I happened upon a mens store, David Woods, where the very man was himself working. High quality, superbly made stock. Needless to say, the credit card was well and truly spanked, and my wardrobe now has some superb, classic additions to it! Apart from the usual gift stores, there appears to be a load of interior design and furniture places. Thankfully, there was no way I was shipping anything so credit card was saved!
I DID find a super cookware place, and was able to take advantage of that. Really friendly people so this is recommended if cooking is your thing.
Again, I was saved by the voltage in the US being different to Europe from making any major purchases!! Safe to say I could have spent a lot of time and cash in here. Just the type of place that I like to spend a few hours!
The Maine Mall is the main shopping area and is an easy ride out of town to get to. It has all the stores you’d expect, including Apple and a pretty cool Carhardtt shop. There’s also a huge LL Bean main HQ where you can pick up anything from a cap to a canoe. Everything for the great outdoors is indeed in that place, and you would be well kitted out to brave the winter should you forget to pack!
So, 5 places I enjoyed in Portland…. that did not involve consuming vast amounts of food!
- Muse
- Le Roux
- David Woods
- LL Bean
- Maine Mall
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