Saturday, August 31, 2013, Saturday Market in Downtown Portland, OR

On our first venture into the downtown area, we tried to find a visitor's center to help us make the most of our time in Portland, OR. We didn't find one, but we happened upon an old building on the National Register of Historic Places with a very helpful guard. The building houses part of the University of Oregon (apparently, the School of Architecture) and there were several thesis projects on display. The inside of the building was a work of art in itself, as they had combined three different buildings into one, incorporating elements from all of them with modern elements to create a very nice space. Included with the University of Oregon, were several business office suites and the Ducks Store (Oregon Ducks).

This is Portland's Fremont Bridge.  One of eight crossing the river into downtown.

I think they managed the mix of old and new well.

Old building elements were used as ornamentation on the walls. 

The thesis projects were fascinating.

This was the outside of two buildings at one time.  

Steel Bridge - I hope to see it rise for a boat.

The glass towers are part of the Oregon Convention Center.

Under the Morrison Bridge

Morrison Bridge

We were in the area to visit the Saturday Market which was a pretty large collection of artists and food vendors sprawling over several city blocks near the river.

We really liked this guy on the cello. As he strained to get some really high notes out of it, he broke a string. He gracefully ended the music he was playing, re-strung the cello, re-tuned and was playing again in less than 5 minutes. We dropped some money in the cello case and got copies of two CDs with his music.

Our guard buddy told us to avoid this part of town after dark.

This pair was very entertaining to watch and their music sounded pretty good, too! The guy sitting was playing the bass with his left hand while he used a drumstick in his right hand and his right foot to play the drums. Occasionally he also provided the back-up vocals - talk about multitasking - he was a busy man.

He didn't play one and then the other, it was simultaneous.  I took video, I was so fascinated by his talent.

The "FOR LEASE" sign is a shame.

On the way back to the car, we revisited the same building we started in (it had really nice restrooms). The guard talked with us some more and said we might be able to see more of the building if we returned another time. We will be trying to make that happen.

We headed back to the car after only about four hours - we didn't want to wear ourselves out on the first day. Went home and relaxed for a while before heading out to IKEA where Joani had her heart set on some Swedish meatballs for dinner. How could I refuse such a modest birthday wish? HAPPY BIRTHDAY, my dear!