Haloo from Portland!
Yesterday's train ride was not without its excitement: A ridiculous drunk made a huge stink, and had to be put off in Tacoma. I'm not sure why he was let on in the first place - he had big talking bullshitter written all over him, AND he was drunk, and that's a bad combination. He told me (and by extension, the rest of the car) that he was A.) The owner of a huge firm that just lost a 300 million dollar contract to the Chinese, B.) A Venture Capitalist, and C.) A writer for NBC. And then he told us that everyone who lives in Lake Oswego is racist. About that time he got beligerant, so I went to find the conductor. He left us, escorted by Tacoma's finest, with the assurance that not only Amtrak, but indeed all of us in the car, would be sued by him for racism.
With THAT out of the way, we proceeded onto Portland, and I proceeded to the Ace Hotel.
The Ace is hip. Tragically hip. Amazingly hip. I knew something was up when I walked into the lobby and was usnsure as to where the front desk was. There were two rather handsome, in a precious sort of way, young men seated at a counter behind computers, but they seemed rather detached from the rest of the people there. So I walked up to them, and asked them if they were, indeed, the front desk.
"Yes", one sighed, exasperated by having to deal with the middle-aged man. The other one kept to his computer.
"I'd like to check in" I said, in my best gracious guest way.
"Do you have a reservation?" He sighed.
I gave him my info, and I have to say that it went amazingly quick from there.
The room is nice, in a hipster flophouse sort of way: Minimum furnishings, a room for the toilet, and a sink and shower out in the room itself, which is kind of cool for a single traveler. There is also a counter that runs the length of the room, which is quite practical. My only complaint is that the window coverings are WOEFULLY inadequate to keep light out (which is compounded by the fact that there is a 1000 watt street light right outside the window) and there is no soundproofing. Since the hotel is right on Stark, it's a bit noisy. But they are not quite done with the hotel yet, so maybe these are things they are going to fix. If only fixing bored and precious desk clerks were that easy....
But now I am off for a day of adventure! I want to go out Hawthorne to look for junk, and I want to ride the new portland tram. I'll keep you posted.
With THAT out of the way, we proceeded onto Portland, and I proceeded to the Ace Hotel.
The Ace is hip. Tragically hip. Amazingly hip. I knew something was up when I walked into the lobby and was usnsure as to where the front desk was. There were two rather handsome, in a precious sort of way, young men seated at a counter behind computers, but they seemed rather detached from the rest of the people there. So I walked up to them, and asked them if they were, indeed, the front desk.
"Yes", one sighed, exasperated by having to deal with the middle-aged man. The other one kept to his computer.
"I'd like to check in" I said, in my best gracious guest way.
"Do you have a reservation?" He sighed.
I gave him my info, and I have to say that it went amazingly quick from there.
The room is nice, in a hipster flophouse sort of way: Minimum furnishings, a room for the toilet, and a sink and shower out in the room itself, which is kind of cool for a single traveler. There is also a counter that runs the length of the room, which is quite practical. My only complaint is that the window coverings are WOEFULLY inadequate to keep light out (which is compounded by the fact that there is a 1000 watt street light right outside the window) and there is no soundproofing. Since the hotel is right on Stark, it's a bit noisy. But they are not quite done with the hotel yet, so maybe these are things they are going to fix. If only fixing bored and precious desk clerks were that easy....
But now I am off for a day of adventure! I want to go out Hawthorne to look for junk, and I want to ride the new portland tram. I'll keep you posted.
posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay @ Friday, May 11, 2007
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