Have the royal Hapsburgs come to town?

remodeled dwntwn building hapsburg yellow
Originally uploaded by dieselboi.

you probably don't know what i'm talking about, but i'm not offended. when i was a young lad, about 15 years ago, i spent some time in Austria for school. it was amazing and we had a wonderful time learning about european and austrian history. in austria, the hapsburgs were the royal family for a few centuries. at one time, the austrian empire was an empire where the sun never set. so, how does that apply here? well, in austria, the hapsburgs had royal palaces and the like and everything was painted yellow. beyond the royalness of architecture, others took on the yellow and made it work. today, when you cruise through austria, you see so much yellow like the building to the right, it's crazy. an example.

so, my walking obviously took me through downtown - the usual 4th avenue jaunt. i did veer off to stumptown coffee on 3rd to grab a latte- yummmmmm. back to 4th and over accross burnside to china town/old town. i did photograph the chinatown gate, but the photo didn't turn out as i liked. i think either my eye is a little off or my camera is a little off. either way, i proceeded down 4th, which is under contruction. what do you see is an issue with the following photo:

well, i'll tell you. just a few weeks ago, there were large cherry trees on both sides of the street. alas, the city decided to cut half of them down, tear up the ground with the intention of re-planting "asian specific" species of trees to replace the cherry trees. do they know we sometimes get freezing weather here in pdx? hmmmmm. oh well, i bet the cut down trees were turned into some good mulch for someone's garden.
further down 4th, i came accross the following:

so, is this a restaurant that serves good tasting food or a restaurant that servs food in good taste? hmmmm

next up - my fave - the picture states it all:

i proceeded down 4th, fighting the urge to not take photos of every little thing i saw. i know, you want me to, but i can only blog about sooooo much. another of my favorite china town haunts is Republic Cafe. what i love about it is it's not the Republic Cafe, but just Republic Cafe. they have some great crab puffs and a good atmosphere - traditional and asian.

also, came accross this:

do i continue? are you bored with me yet? well, i'm not gonna stop. i hit the max stop as i wasn't dressed or prepared for the full walk home. there i eyed someone's attempt to fix a tree:

trust me, i don't think it will live. once accross the river, i decided to take max up to mississippi. i wanted to show off some of the new locale that have cropped up in the hood. first up is Gotham Tavern - a great locale associated with Ripe, Clark/Lewis and Meriweather:

and then it was up to N. russell, between Mississippi and Albina - for you uninitiated, mississippi starts down by n. interstate, cruises up through the current mississippi neighborhood, but then transitions into n. albina ave just north of skidmore. on n. russell, we got the building that houses Mint and 820:

down the street is the White Eagle, currently a McMennamin's tavern, but for the past 100 years, was privately owned and operated for the workin' man. it even has a ghost - we know!

at this point, i still haven't climbed the hill up mississippi? i think i'll call it a night though. i have so much more to write about today and my journey up the hill to mississippi, but i'll sleep on it and let it all marinate for a better experience tomorrow.

anyone readers out there been to Montreal? if so, drop me a note off the blog. we're heading there in july and i need some sleeping recommendations. thanks.

good night from the little ones and all.