Portland, Oregon: City of Roses, Rain and Microbrewed Brains

skull-and-whiskey-drink — “All of Portland is a stage, and all the men and women dress in layers.”

For the holidays this year, my German wife and I returned to my hometown of Portland, Oregon. We had an absolute blast visiting our friends and family members, and just generally reliving this rainy city we left back in 2012 before moving to Germany.

It all started with the short flight from Hannover, to the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Then the long, painful, 10.5-hour flight from Amsterdam to Portland. See, I hate flying, and I’d been dreading this part for months. Full-on plane crash nightmares every single night until departure. (Thank CHRIST for Xanax.)

Once we arrived in Portland, we picked up our little rental car — a Volkswagen Jetta — and hit the city. (I think it was a Volkswagon. I don’t know anything about cars. It was the kind they won’t shut the fuck up about over here in Germany because of some diesel emissions scandal.)

We walked around downtown, hit the glorious new Apple Store at Pioneer Place, and enjoyed a little pub in northeast Portland called Hop & Vine. I love little microbreweries like this; they remind me just how hard I should slap the next German guy who proclaims his country is the only one who can make good beer. (We’re talking about a very hard slap here. The kind which removes at least a year of elementary school from your brain.)

portland-oregon-hop-and-vine-pub-ne — That’s a menu, by the way. Not our bill. Jesus.

After a very low-key, very nerdy New Year’s Eve — complete with frozen pizzas, Dead Guy Ale from Rogue Brewery, and binge-watching the entirety of Season 5 of Game of Thrones — we visited a small, private museum filled with animal heads and death masks. (Seriously.)

The rest of the trip was a haze of good food, strong drink, close friends and much-missed family. It was awesome. However, it is equally awesome to be back home in Hannover, Germany, where the weather is exactly as depressing as Portland’s. (It’s like we never left!)

We took a few pictures during our trip to share with you. Please click one of the thumbnails below to start the slideshow. Oh, and by the way: If you want to hang out with us on Instagram, our account name is, unsurprisingly, ohgodmywifeisgerman.