After our big night out seeing Operation Mincemeat (which everyone generally liked), we were up again the next morning and off to a theater talk. This meant we walked about three blocks to a building that housed some small playhouse-type theaters (that hold about 50-60 people and are used for small plays, rehearsals, and the like) and went up to one of the theaters on the third floor to meet with two fantastic people. The first was Tim Dolan. Tim has been a longtime actor and dancer on Broadway and in touring shows. But a few years back, he decided he'd better find a more regular paycheck (because he now has a family), so he started a tour business giving tours of Broadway and also started one selling Broadway souvenirs. We have had him as our speaker twice so far, and he is an absolute font of Broadway knowledge. And because of his acting experience, he is a JOY to listen to.
This morning, he was moderating a discussion with Cassie Silva, who is a currently working actress that we will see on Tuesday night in the musical & Juliet. In the very short hour we had them talking to us, we learned so many behind-the-scenes facts and heard so many great stories that we wanted the talk to last all day. Sadly, we only had them for about an hour (but we got Tim back two more times later in the week). In the video below, I want to give you a small example of what the talk was like.
After our theater talk, the entire group of 41 had four walking tour options to choose from in the city. Group one headed out to walk the High Line in Midtown and visit the Little Island. I have walked the High Line numerous times, so I skipped that one. Group two would take a tour of the Gilded Age neighborhoods. If you are familiar with the HBO series of that name, you will know that this is the area where the turn-of-the-century new money clashed with the old. It’s a great story, and I highly recommend the show (created and written by Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame). Group three took the subway south to Lower Manhattan and did a tour of Hamilton’s New York.
I chose to join the fourth group for a walking tour of Midtown and Grand Central Terminal with our guide, Bruce Roberts. I would have to call Bruce a mensch. A very interesting one. He used to be a full-time guide, but then he went into producing. He currently has productions running in two or three places around the country and is part of the production team for a West End (London) show coming to Broadway later this year.
Bruce had been brought in by Alex of Break-Away at the last minute. It seems we originally had only three tours scheduled: Hamilton’s NY, Midtown, and GCT and the High Line. I was excited to do the Midtown tour because I had never really been to Grand Central Terminal to take photos. But a group of ladies on the tour (unbeknownst to me) corresponded with Alex and asked about a Gilded Age tour. When we got here, I was fine with that and thanked Alex for setting it up for them, but he had worked it out by canceling the GCT/Midtown tour I wanted to do. I told him that and said, “It’s OK. I can walk over on my own.” Lo and behold, the next morning when we met up, Michael, our head guide, said, “We now have four tours and the Midtown/GCT tour was back on.” Alex really goes the extra mile for his groups.
Bruce got into all this because he has worked with all the guys who have been touring us around, and they called him to ask if he wanted to spend his weather-perfect Saturday walking a bunch of old people from Washington State around midtown. He said yes, and we got lucky. Our tour went from the theater where we had heard Cassie and Tim speak, through the theater district, to Rockefeller Center, around the Chrysler Building and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and we finished up at Grand Central Terminal. Photos are below. Remember to click to enlarge them. Again, we learned all kinds of trivia and heard many background stories about the city.
After that tour, it was a quick (I mean, really QUICK–3 minutes on the train from GCT to our hotel) ride, and it was time to dress for dinner. I had picked out what turned out to be an outstanding Spanish tapas place called Boqueria. The food was superb, the service excellent, the company better, and the Sangria the best I have ever had. We had a wonderful time.
After dinner, we headed to our second Broadway show. Tonight, we were seeing Oh, Mary, a complete farce about our 16th First Lady. Suffice it to say, they threw out the history books on this one. Mr. Lincoln was black… and gay. John Wilkes Booth was his gay lover. Mary Todd was a drunken, delusional want-to-be cabaret star. OK, are you totally mixed up? So were we, and we saw the play. There were mixed reactions within our party the day after this show. But with that kind of story, there have to be. Most of the folks were nice and said it was “Not my favorite.” I appreciated that. It’s not a play for everyone. Even with Maya Rudolf as Mary (she was hilarious, though in a very broad, physical comedic portrayal).
On Broadway, there is no censoring, just self-censorship and doing what makes sense.—Robert Lopez
This was one of my worst vacation days ever. I had a great breakfast, drove around Portland, took exactly five photos (three of the same thing), and then went back to our hotel to rest and pack for the cruise tomorrow. I am sure I have NEVER gone an entire day on a trip without shooting at least 100 photos, but here we are.
The biggest reason (getting out the Meldrew, Paul) is the hotel we are staying in. It is just too far from anything except the airport, and I really don’t care to take photos of planes taking off through a dirty, sixth-floor window. If we were downtown, I could be out taking lots of photos of the war zone that is NOT here in Portland. But we are way out here. And driving in isn’t so bad, but the parking is HORRID! I mean, really bad. Last night, I parked in a space so small and tight that it took me 14 gear changes from Drive to Reverse to back into it. I could never have gotten into it from the front. And it costs a fortune. Every place wants to charge me a lot to park for a much longer period than I need. At Multnomah Falls the other day, the only choice was $20 for all-day parking. We were there for no more than 45 minutes. Last night, I was charged $20 for “overnight” parking from the time we arrived at 7:00 pm to 6:00 am. We left at 8:30. Ridiculous!
I want to share a few thoughts about this hotel. It’s the Embassy Suites by Hilton, Portland Airport. Interestingly, I stayed here before when I was working with Jostens, and we had a sales meeting. It was just as disappointing then as it is now. The rooms are spacious and relatively clean. They offer a free breakfast—which is not even “fine”—and complimentary “appetizers” in the evening, like chips and salsa, trail mix, or hummus with cold pita bread. However, the real issue with this hotel is that it misleads you. When we checked in on Monday evening, the woman at the desk asked if we wanted our room made up every day. We said yes. Today is Friday, and our room was finally cleaned. Each day, I would go to the desk after returning from our outings, asking why our room hadn’t been cleaned, and I was told it would be done the next day—yet it wasn’t until today. I believe the delay was simply because the hotel saw us checking out before we actually checked back in with American Cruise Line, which had paid. It’s just sad. So that’s my complaint.
Here are the photos I took today, both with my camera and my phone. I think I took one with my camera.
Breakfast-NW Salmon Hash
Forest Primeval
And a final stop for the ladies at Voodoo Donuts
And thus concludes our four-day pre-cruise trip in Portland. We had fun, but even better, we enjoyed some amazing food. Tomorrow, I will return the rental car and board our ship (I’m not sure what to call it since it only holds 250 people) late in the morning. Due to low water on the river, we will need to take our “luxury motor coach” further east on the river to board in Skamania, Washington, about a 45-minute drive. We are scheduled to be on board by lunchtime at noon. I have a feeling that after a week of experiencing the best of Portland, the cruise food might be a bit of a letdown. We shall see.
There’s something that I can’t describe about the city [Portland] that I really love – just physically – how it feels to walk around there, and have coffee there. Also, the way that it’s a little overcast sometimes. Something about Portland just really resonated with me. —Fred Armisen
What can I say about yesterday? We had an amazing breakfast, followed by a very long drive to a creamery to witness cheese being made, then a short drive to see a large rock, followed by a long drive to get back and finally an incredible dinner.
That was it. I feel like I let my fellow October Gang buddies down with a rather long and boring trip to the Oregon Coast. We have always loved the Oregon Coast, but other than a tour of the Tillamook Creamery, it was pretty much a snooze. I think our memories of Cannon Beach were too old. We remember being able to walk out on the beach much more easily. And we remember that we used to like shopping. Now it does nothing for us. Twenty-five years ago, when we first visited, we spent hours in all the shops. Now we couldn’t care less. We are done collecting items from places we have already visited.
On the other hand, this trip is rapidly morphing into a five-day food tour. Kathleen’s daughter, Michelle, and her husband, Brian, visit Portland on a regular basis, and they have recommended several places to eat. Yesterday morning, we tried one of their breakfast options, and I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve never had a breakfast I liked more. The food and service were amazing. The place is called Petite Provence. How good was it? We are going back again in about 30 minutes from when I am writing this. Here are some pics.
Here’s the sign so you don’t miss it. It’s on Alberta Street.
Their croissants are HUGE!
This dish is Bourguignon Brunch. It has…tender beef braised in red wine ancho chili sauce, served over a piquant hash of butternut squash, bacon, leek, Provence potato, green pepper, harissa, and jalapeño. Topped with an egg and Horseradish Crème.
After breakfast, we headed to the coast. Our first stop, after a 90-minute drive, was the Tillamook Creamery. If you’re in the USA, you’ve probably heard of Tillamook cheese and ice cream. This is where they make it. If you’re on the Oregon Coast, I highly recommend a quick visit. It’s a self-guided tour that offers a view over the cheesemaking and packaging process. Then, enjoy a sample of cheese and, of course, some of their famous ice cream. Here are a few photos from that experience.
The front of the building is really cool with the biggest cow painting I have ever seen.
The stairs leading to the tour are haloed by cheese blocks.
Cheese is packaged here in giant blocks to age.
This woman is making sure that there is no air in the bag.
The workers do the final packaging. I have always wanted a “Robotic Debagger.”
These folks make sure all the cut blocks weigh the same. If not, they slice some off. I have no clue what they do if the blocks are under weight.
After our cheese adventure, we headed north to Cannon Beach… or so we hoped. None of our cell phones had coverage (thanks, T-Mobile), and there were no signs indicating Cannon Beach ahead. I stopped for gas and asked a man, who said it’s about 15 miles up the road. We finally arrived, and the place was crowded. You can no longer easily get out to the beach to see Haystack Rock. The guys went out to take a photo while the ladies stayed behind. The stairs were too steep. There are numerous shops selling things we don’t need, and everyone just wanted to return to the hotel. So off we went. I should mention that neither the road we took to Tillamook nor the road we returned on to Portland had many restrooms. It made for a lousy trip back to the hotel.
We had a 7:00 pm reservation at Andina, a Peruvian restaurant downtown. This was the place we canceled after the food tour on Tuesday because we were so full, and moved it to last night.
Speaking of downtown, as the driver, I find it funny that everyone keeps asking if I am okay driving back downtown or if we should eat somewhere near the hotel. I keep telling them that the only places to eat near the hotel are the hotel itself or the airport. Of course, I don’t mind driving downtown for the kind of food I get there.
Andina was incredible. Just when I thought the food here in Portland couldn’t improve, we had two utterly fantastic appetizers. One was a scallop ceviche, and the other was a barbecued rib. We shared them, but honestly, I could go back tonight, order just those two appetizers, and that would be it. I also had an amazing entrée. They called it “lomo saltado,” and it was like a hybrid of stir-fry and poutine. It featured beef and onions stir-fried in a savory sauce and then poured over French fries. Strangely enough, they served it with garlic rice. Not sure why two starches were included, but they were both delicious. Overall, Andina was a winner. Kathleen and I visited there about ten years ago, and to be honest, they have improved even more since then… and we loved them then. I also had a cocktail (notice I said A cocktail…as the designated driver, I get one ?) but it was a winner. It was called a Carmen St. Revue. I asked the bartender for the recipe, but it contains so many special ingredients that it would be nearly impossible to recreate at home.
My cocktail…it was amazing.
The remains of our appetizers. I wish I had remembered to take a before photo.
My entrée
Kathleen’s chicken entrée…almost half a bird.
That was our day. Tomorrow is our last day in Portland, and I am not sure what we are doing. I had planned for us to visit the Oregon wine region, but after today’s long drive, I’m not sure if anyone is up for doing that.
This activist loves Oregon more than he loves life. —Tom McCall
Our first full day back together with the rest of the October bunch was all about food. We had booked a walking food tour with Secret Food Tours. Kathleen and I had toured with them quite a few years ago, and we are happy to report that they still do a superb food tour. That’s the whole crowd at Deschutes Brewery (but more about that later) above.
We started the day with a free breakfast at our hotel (Embassy Suites by Hilton-PDX), and it was fine. It gave us enough to get us to the tour. We were to meet up with Ken Lin from Secret Food Tours at 11:00 am beneath the Umbrella Man sculpture in Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland. And, not to be too political here, I can tell you that Portland is NOT AT WAR. It is NOT DANGEROUS. We saw no crime, just a beautiful day and a lot of really nice people out enjoying the sunshine in the heart of Portland.
I took some shots around the Square before we met up with Ken. Just some interesting architecture, people, and the aforementioned Umbrella Man statue. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
Taken from the middle of the square on a beautiful fall day.
Facing in another direction.
The Umbrella Man
Up close he’s kind of spooky.
This guy was doing pushups on his hands for a while.
On the edges of what look like horse watering troughs just down from the Square were a variety of animal sculptures. I really liked these otters.
These are called Benson Bubblers. They are all around downtown.
Once Ken (at right) arrived, it was off on the food tour. Our first stop was a food pod. We had never been to a food pod before, but it turned out to be a really nice, fenced area with numerous food carts lining the edges, seating, and a stage in the middle. BTW: we were told that these were carts and not food trucks because they have no engines, thus they could not go anywhere. They are there permanently. If you can’t find something to eat or drink there, you aren’t trying. We got to try the Cubano sandwiches from Stella’s Sandwiches, which were drop-dead delicious. Never had one with pulled pork before (always just sliced pork) and it was amazing.
Kathleen heading into the food pod.
Stella’s Sandwiches and Bowls where we got…
This awesome Cubano sandwich.
After our food pod experience, we took the longest walk of the day from downtown into the Pearl District to visit Deschutes Brewery and sample their wonderful pretzel with cheese sauce and mustard. All I can say is that it was wonderful. Not quite up to our favorite at Valley House Brewing near us in Duvall, WA but still really good.
This is the place.
This is the food.
This is the really cool urinals in the men’s room. Like almost 6 feet high.
Next up was Nong’s Khao Man Gai. It’s an interesting place that is renowned for just this one dish. As you can tell from the name, it is an Asian restaurant. When you order the Khao Man Gai, you get chicken, rice, soup, cucumbers and one of the most amazing sauces. Truly delicious.
This is the place.
This is the food! The sauce was to die for.
From there it was on to Grassa, which is predominantly a pasta restaurant. We got to sample their Pork Belly Mac & Cheese. Absolute decadence might be a good way to describe it. Just amazing.
This is the place.
This is the food.
The last spot and the last course were, of course, dessert. We went just down the street to Petunia’s Pies and Pastries, the home of some truly delicious marionberry pie. If you have no clue what a marionberry is, think of a blackberry without all the annoying seeds. The pie, despite being gluten-free and vegan ?, was amazing.
This was the place.
This was the food.
During the entire tour, I took some street photos, mostly of neon signs, which I love, as well as others of interesting buildings. They are a good way to wind this up photographically.
Definitely a happy city.
A very cool bike sculpture.
And neon.
I love neon.
Can you tell?
Just love shooting it.
That about did it for Kathleen and me. She was exhausted from all the walking, so we dropped off Steve, Jamie, Mike, and Cathy at the Portland Rose Garden, and I took Kathleen back to the hotel to rest before going back to pick up the other four about an hour later. The traffic sucked, and that’s kind of what we get for staying in an airport hotel. We had reservations for dinner at Andina, a Peruvian restaurant Kathleen and I had visited before. However, everyone was still so full from the food tour, that I called and rescheduled them for Thursday.
Tomorrow is a trip up the Gorge to visit Multnomah Falls, Hood River and see Mount Hood. Should be fun. I will let you know on Thursday.
Portland is quickly becoming one of those lovely, lush Third World countries where kinda-rich people retire with their money. Here, they can live like kings, generating only service-industry jobs and jacking up housing prices. —Chuck Palahniuk
Editor’s Note:We are home. I was about to type that words can’t describe the length of our journey, but that’s not true. One word can. That word is…exhausting. More on that in a couple of days. I hope to do one post a day, as if we were still in Africa. It all depends on the extent of my jet lag.
After our FULL day in Victoria Falls, we were up early to catch our flights from Victoria to South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg. As someone who believes that airports are the worst part of travel, this is not my favorite trip. We had spent way too much time in airports so far, and we still had at least four more flights after this one before we would be home (we took eight total—some of our fellow travelers took 12, depending on how many connections they had to get to Africa or home). This was another case of boarding a bus, sitting in the airport, flying, and clearing customs in another country. You get the idea. It’s almost as if you trade boring, exhausting days in airports for the glorious days in between seeing Southern Africa.
We basically spent one full day in Johannesburg. We got into our hotel, the Fairlawns Boutique Hotel & Spa. If you remember, we stayed at the Cape Grace Hotel in Cape Town to start this trip with AmaWaterways. We thought that place was a truly beautiful hotel. Our next hotel was the Victoria Falls Hotel in Victoria Falls, which was older, more staid and colonial, but still (as much as I hate to admit it) beautiful. But this place knocked our socks off. It was so impressive that I actually remembered to whip out my phone and give you a short video tour.
This “room” was not only bigger than my first apartment, but I think the Springboks (South Africa’s national rugby team) could play a match inside (okay, that’s hyperbole…but good hyperbole ?). This place was beautiful. While the Cape Grace was very nice, it was a little too prim and proper for me, and I was saddened by the colonialism of the Victoria Falls Hotel—but this one, decorated in what I would have to call “African Safari,” was (and still is) my favorite hotel of the trip.
By the time we had arrived from our travels, it was fairly late in the day. I had forgotten to mention that two other amazing representatives from AmaWaterways met us upon our arrival. And we still had the amazing Delia with us. The amazing Lucky (yes, that’s really hisname) met us at the airport and took us to the hotel, as well as leading our full-day tour the following day. Once we arrived at the hotel, we met Beverleigh, who is basically like the Ama fairy godmother of Johannesburg. If Delia is the queen of Southern Africa touring, then Beverleigh is the princess in Johannesburg. Both of these people would play a significant role in my thoughts on South Africa in general.
One of the things I may have mentioned is that about three weeks before we left, we met Dave and Janine Marcus, who live here in Trilogy with us. Dave and I did Trilogy Tech Support together one morning, and I mentioned (like I could shut up about it ?) that we were going to Southern Africa. It turns out Dave and Janine are native South Africans. They still have a place in Cape Town. They travel to Johannesburg regularly and have friends there. They were of great help, providing valuable advice and information. We had one free evening in Cape Town for dinner, and they had recommended a restaurant, which, alas, we had decided to skip because of our late arrival at Table Mountain. Dave had also gotten us a restaurant recommendation in Johannesburg from a good friend he described as a “foodie.” Well, you know me, I love food, and the amazing restaurant prices in South Africa make it almost a sin not to eat out in a superb restaurant at least once.
On the other hand, when we arrived at the Fairlawns, we were exhausted. Beverleigh had offered to make arrangements with the hotel for us to eat in their dining room (which was superb at breakfast). I told her to do that for us. I also told her that we had reservations at a highly recommended restaurant in the city, but we were tired and decided to stay in the hotel instead. Without me saying where we had reservations, she turned to me and said, “I bet you have reservations at Marble. You have to go!” She went on to regale me with how much we would be missing if we didn’t go, how the hotel would transport us there, come back and get us and that we would have a “WONDERFUL experience.” Well, you can’t pass up that kind of recommendation, so we said, “Set up the car.”
Editor’s Note: At this point, I have a lot to say about South Africa and Johannesburg that some may find controversial (it has to do with being transported by the hotel’s car), but I want to reserve my thoughts until my next post, when I detail our full day in Johannesburg.
Let’s talk food.
I haven’t said much about the food. At this point, we had experienced some great food. None of it was bad (except for the cold breakfast at the Victoria Falls Hotel), but there also wasn’t much to write home about. But let’s discuss Marble. We ate, we took pictures (below), and we left stuffed. Everything was perfect except for the one tired impala or antelope I had as an entrée. (I ordered their “game assortment” as my entrée and the “game”—which I now believe to have been impala—was so tough I joked that it must have been the one the lions chased for days but it got away just in tme to wind up at this restaurant ?—but the sauce on it was amazing.)
Here are the pics. The captions pretty much describe the meal. I took them with Kathleen’s iPhone because I stupidly forgot mine at the hotel. Feel (guilt) free to look at them on your phone ?.
The interior of Marble. It was located on the third floor of a building about 20 minutes from our hotel.
Started up with some awesome bread and a mixture of butternut squash and seeds on the left and herbed butter on the right.
Accompanied by the perfect negroni.
My amazing octopus appetizer with chorizo. Maybe the best I have ever had.
Kathleen’s lamb entrée
My “game” entrée
Dessert was chocolate and orange bread pudding with whiskey cream and coffee ice cream on top. It was delicious and hotter than hell.
We can’t thank Dave and Janine (and their friend in Johannesburg) for the recommendation, and Beverleigh for ensuring we went. It was (for me) the best dining experience of the trip. This place fully passed the “Steve Test.” Not only would I eat there again, but I would make it a go-to place for special occasions, especially with the price.
Let’s talk restaurant prices. Prior to the trip, when I was reviewing restaurant menus, I was scared by the prices. Most were in South African currency (the rand), and when I looked at Marble’s menu, I saw that my favorite dish (anything with octopus) was 230 rand. At first glance, that seems like A LOT OF MONEY to pay for one dish. It does, right up until you pull out your calculator (thanks, Apple, for including a constantly updated currency converter right inside your iOS calculator) and realize that R230 is only $ 12.99 US. So, our entire meal, with two appetizers, two entrées, two drinks for me, one for Kathleen, and her glass of wine, as well as a split dessert (in one of Johannesburg’s best restaurants), plus the tip, came to less than $ 140 US. Seriously. Would I dine there if it were in my own city? With those prices? I would eat there weekly. I would try everything on the menu…twice. Two of us could not eat at a place like Marble here in Seattle for twice that much.
After that amazing dinner, we were picked up by the hotel van, whisked back to our luxurious suite at the Fairlawns, where we slept like babies. Which was a good thing because our next day would be a stunner in so many ways. I believe it will be the most joyful post I have ever written and the saddest. See you then.
Now that we have a democracy and you can go back and the airport air is not laden with evil any more, you can actually breathe oxygen when you land in Johannesburg. —Janet Suzman
Our first full day back together with the rest of the October bunch was all about food. We had booked a walking food tour with 
Once Ken (at right) arrived, it was off on the food tour. Our first stop was a food pod. We had never been to a food pod before, but it turned out to be a really nice, fenced area with numerous food carts lining the edges, seating, and a stage in the middle. BTW: we were told that these were carts and not food trucks because they have no engines, thus they could not go anywhere. They are there permanently. If you can’t find something to eat or drink there, you aren’t trying. We got to try the Cubano sandwiches from Stella’s Sandwiches, which were drop-dead delicious. Never had one with pulled pork before (always just sliced pork) and it was amazing.
