St. Patrick's Day

We went downtown to try to find what to eat this evening, knowing we should probably stay away from Irish eateries. :) One our trolley ride to downtown Portland a man and his dog got on the car. This man was wearing a skirt!!! :) A kilt, really. :) He was all decked literally from head to toe! It was a beautiful site, but...do the Scots celebrate St Patty's day, too? Apparently so, because...



We walked around quite a bit, got turned around like you wouldn't believe, and laughed when others around us said the same thing we were feeling. We heard one lady tell her friend, "I know we left the store we just went in, but now I have no idea WHERE I am!!!" During our walk we saw some interesting statuary and some great advertisement for a restaurant, as well as some really spectacular architecture:
Above: a cool looking elephant in the middle of a pedestrian park. I am not sure of the significance of it. I imagine it was just something a commissioned artist did for the city. Far right, a beautiful church's building across the street from the Portland Art Museum.

Below: left-- great advertising, and a little scary. We did not walk down that street. It creeped me out a little! :) Middle: an American Indian symbol on this building...at least it looks like that great bird spirit! And the last one is just a pretty building. Kinda gives you a feel for the way the city is built and the care they take of their streets and little pedestrian parks.
You will see my favorite statue in another post. And some interesting people we met that night at that statue.

This next photo is of a chocolate shop. It is not anything special in and of itself...at least not to our knowledge: we did not try any of its chocolates (the store was closed), but we loved the name. It reminded us to send a prayer up for some friends of ours whose little boy is named the same as this shop. A little guy born at 25 weeks and working hard to survive. The name means "lion-like." Please pray for this little guy, too!