"Portland, Oregon" a Portland Travel Page by yonsei

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If you’re a stranger to the City of Roses, the first thing to do is hop on board bus 63 and take a scenic trip through the West Hills and into Washington Park. There, among the floribundas and grandifloras of the International Rose Test Garden (a reminder of the rose bushes that once lined the streets of downtown) you can find a bench and enjoy a breathtaking view of the trees, the city, and not far beyond, the looming west face of Mt Hood. Cascading down the green hillside below you, roads bend and twist in precarious turns as they negotiate the steep slope, and expensive houses cascade down the green hillside until, finding level ground, they blend in with the yuppie shops and espresso joints that line NW 23rd Ave. South towards downtown, bistros and art galleries give way to office towers and department stores, modern brick apartment buildings and restored Victorians, two ribbons of park blocks, and the heart of Portland, Pioneer Square. Past Tom McCall Waterfront Park and the Willamette River, the Eastside sprawls along neatly-ordered streets, a mix of trendy neighborhoods, vibrant bohemias, quiet residential streets and abundant city parks. Finally, your eye follows I-85 as it parallels the Columbia river, fading into the Columbia Gorge.

Well, enough ogling from afar. Get a transit map and some bus schedules from the Tri-met Office in Pioneer Square and go exploring! Getting around Portland is easy thanks to prolific mass transit and neatly-gridded streets. And don’t worry too much about exploring the nether reaches. In this city I can almost guarantee you won’t get mugged, stranded, or lost, no matter what bus you take or how late at night you decide to take a stroll through the park. And when you get tired, well, an espresso place is never too far away.