First of all a pic from your front door, isn’t it exciting

The next one is a view from our front door to the neighbors across the street.

And than the batteries of my camera went out, so have to buy new ones first.

Today was a day off for some, W. had the day off because Christmas was on a Sunday this year but a lot of other people had to work just like a regular Monday.
We went to Portland today, my first time in 3 months, jay! The weather wasn’t too good so we opted to visit the world famous Powells bookstore. Oh my gosh, I never seen a bookstore like that in my life! It was amazing! Of course I read about it but you’ll never know until you’ve experienced it.

It’s called The City of Books and rightly so! It covers an entire city block three floors deep, claims to be the world’s largest bookstore. Those books, roughly three-quarters of a million at any given time, are shelved side by side–well-thumbed old paperbacks next to the latest hardcover books–which is why browsing is what Powell’s is all about. City of Books is even bigger than that; it has several satellite stores. There’s Powell’s Technical Bookstore, Powell’s Books for Cooks and Gardeners and more.

I could have spend easily the whole day there. *sigh* I came out of the store with ‘only’ 5 books, not too bad at all I behaved! Next time I’ll go to the Cooking and Gardening store!

Just as we left the store it started pouring so we drove around, sightseeing and taking in the tourist. It’s hard to believe we actually live here, Portland is such an exciting individualistic kind of town, you hardly ever see people wearing the latest fashion, everyone wears what he /she is comfortable with. On a cold day you can easily spot a fur coat next to a guy wearing shorts. I love it!
The health conscious(organic) eating and buying local is LARGE here, farmers markets are open all year and even restaurants serve food locally grown and organic. It’s absolutely the place I feel at home and comfortable.

View of Portland with in the background the wonderful Mt.Hood