Monday, January 26, 2009

The smallest park in the world

I've just got back from Portland, Oregon, from a business trip. I knew absolutely nothing about it before leaving, and I started with assumption of a typical American sprawl with end-to-end freeways and strip-malls. In fact the central part where I was a very pleasant surprise - good sidewalks, very short blocks, a river with a nice green bit next to it to walk along, etc.

It also features the smallest park in the world (Mill Ends park), which I thought was suitably amusing:


I only had one morning of free time (the rest of it being spent in the hotel eating too much food and trying not to get sucked into pointless arguments). Apart from the park, I went to Powell's book store, which is as large as the park is small. Just the SF/F section was about the size of a small public library, and I discovered a lot of books I'd never heard of, and bought a few for an insanely low price.