Portland, Oregon.
The daunting highways leading into Portland looked like plates of spaghetti on Google maps. So, we pulled off about 10km from the city centre for breakfast, to fill up with petrol and study the route to Avis, in case Google malfunctioned. All went well however and Evan picked us up and took us to their apartment.
Our first impression of Portland was of a modern and clean city with not much city traffic, once off the highways. The lack of traffic is due to an efficient public transport system, called Trimet – trains, trams and busses. A $5.25 day ticket will take you anywhere you need to go in Portland. Just S-W of the city is Marquam Hill.
For some strange reason the city planners decided that Marquam Hill was the ideal location for not one, but three hospitals. The biggest, the OHSU (Oregon Health Services University) is huge and covers all facets of health care training. Then there is the Shriner Children’s Hospital where Karen is currently working, and finally the US Veterans Hospital for US service personnel.
Karen and two other Australian Orthopaedic Surgery Registrars, Benji and Sarah, live in modern apartments next to the hospital. When we booked our apartment nearby, we didn’t realise how steep this hill was when walking to Karen and Evan’s apartment, This challenge and more long walks in the city, resulted in painful left calf muscles for me, which by the end of the week was excruciating. Fortunately, we also discovered the aerial tramway which lower station was a block from our accomodation and took four minutes up to the hospital.
We however explored much of the city and a bookshop called Powell’s City of Books, which covers an entire city block over four floors and is the world’s largest independent bookstore. Back in 1982 the Portland Building was completed – the first example of Postmodern Architecture by Michael Graves – is still looking impressive after refurbishment in 2020.
Early Saturday morning Karen and Annie dragged me to the OHSU emergency room where after triage, ultrasound and a MRI scan, my sore calf was diagnosed as a partially torn Achilles tendon. I walked out in a cumbersome boot on my left lower leg, which I have to wear for two months – aargh!
On Sunday we celebrated Karen’s 37th birthday with coffee and pastries in the morning and a BBQ with her fellow registrars in the evening. A good time was had by all after meeting Benji from Sydney and Sarah from Canberra.
After a lovely week of catching up with Karen, Evan and Nina – who’s is developing in leaps and bounds, we caught an Uber out to the airport on Monday morning, for our flight to New York. Having hobbled all the way to the departure gate, the lady at the gate insisted on booking a wheelchair for me at Newark Airport NY. Just as well!
Until our next post, cheers,
Annie and Dirk.