Careful urban planning has also set aside plenty of parkland, including a huge urban forest that dwarfs New York City s Central Park. The best place to begin a visit to Portland is downtown. You re likely to find some kind of festival, concert or other performance taking place there. If you see a sun, the weather will be fair. A heron means something transitional.
Downtown has lots of buildings that date to Portland s early years.
Old Town has buildings from the 1880s, and the Skidmore Historic District is also filled with 19th-century structures made of brick and iron. Many of the buildings now house shops, galleries and restaurants. Just across the street is the Portland Center for the Performing Arts , a complex of four theaters that host touring shows and local performances. Two of the venues are housed in the spectacular New Theatre Building, a postmodern gem. And the Oregon History Center will bring you up to date on Portland s past.