September 18 – Portland and the American Empress

For our shore excursion today we opted for a Hop-on-Hop-Off Tour. Many cities have Hop-on-Hop-Off Tour that are run by a company of the same name.  So that is sort of what we expected.  However, the American Steamboat Company did a take-off of Hop-on-Hop-Off tour using their own tour buses.  They set out a route around the city with stops at places of interest.  These buses drive from port to port to meet us the next day for more tours.

According to the guide, during World War II the was concern among rosarians that the roses in Europe would be destroyed due to the fighting.  A large rose stock was sent to the city of Portland to be cared for during the conflict.  The city was successful in preserving many roses and many were returned to Europe.  And Portland kept many for the city.  The next stop on the tour was the beautiful rose garden in Washington Park. 

It seems the roses like the climate in Portland.  It is rather late in the blooming season but the gardens were ablaze with roses.  We had a lovely time wandering the gardens.

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More Washington Park Rose Garden
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After touring the gardens the guide handed out donuts before we got back on the bus.  Portland is known for their Voodoo Donuts.  The Voodoo donut shop provided a wide assortment of their offerings, including a Voodoo. 

Next stop was a lovely Chinese Garden, Lan Su.  Much of the garden was a collaboration with artisans from China.  There were decorative stone walkways, lotus pools, pagodas, red lanterns and the large, interesting limestone rocks like those we saw in many gardens in China. 

And there were many lovely flowers. 

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More Lan Su Gardens
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After touring town we taken to the boat, the American Empress, where we settled into our rooms and did a bit of exploring of the four decks.  The Empress is a sternwheeler that is operational.  However, we were told that most of the power is supplied by regular engines.  But most of the time the sternwheel rotated, making it look pretty authentic.  Even the décor on the boat resembled the décor of the 1800’s from the heyday of steamboats. 

As we sailed out we had good views of one of the bridges in Portland.

In the evening we enjoyed a performance in the lounge.  The boat has a quartet…piano, percussion, base/guitar, and tenor sax/flute.  The group was very good.  Eric, the Cruise Director, provided vocals.