Saturday In Portland 2

About a year ago I did a blog about my walk downtown to the library.  As much as I hate to be redundant there is always so much to see and it changes every minute so here is a second round of me walking down to the library on a Saturday in late summer.

Last night was the First Friday Art Walk.  It was amazing and there were so many photo moments and blog worthy things to mention but I was really enjoying living in that instant and just taking it all in.  Still, on my walk I followed the same path that we took on the art walk so I couldn't help but think of some things I had seen.

While I was at work Friday morning I was talking with a couple of co-workers about jazz music.  Ah, yes the conversation came up when I mentioned I would be in New Orleans during a huge jazz festival.  I love live jazz music and never get to hear it.  My co-workers and I hatched a plan to go catch some live jazz soon-specifically at this place: Jazz At The Blue

One of my favorite places during the art walk was a gallery above this flower shop.  These huge second story windows all lit up at night with people milling around inside was actually quite a sight.  The gallery was mostly watercolors of trees (and I admit I have a thing for any photos, watercolors etc of trees especially birches) and next to each photo was a story.  As, I said it was one of my favorite stops.

A completely different atmosphere was the art gallery Space.  It is a vast open space that has a bar in one corner.  So picture people milling around, chatting with a beer in hand.  It felt very much like a typical bar except instead of pool tables and a dart board there were art exhibits and stuff hanging on walls.  Very hip, funky vibe.

Yes, Portland now has a Reny's.  Topsham also has one.  Now that Reny's is everywhere does it somehow make it a less special place?  Hmmm, not sure about that one yet.

After my visit to the library I checked out the Library of Congress 18 wheeler bus that has been working its way across the country.  Portland is stop number 84 out of 90. It was touted as having America's treasures such as Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, really old world maps and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.  Sounds pretty cool right?  But what they failed to mention is that there were no original works on the bus-only photos and brief descriptions.  Not exactly what I imagined but the huge air conditioned bus was quite fun!