Portland and Seattle: Beyond 'Fifty Shades of Grey'
Being an exploitation of 'Twilight', the setting for the trilogy could not be other than the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States . But since here the protagonist is no longer an almost centenarian vampire but a cosmopolitan millionaire, the action moves from the forests of Forks to the most important cities in its surroundings: portland and seattle.
PORTLAND
Food trucks! Cycling paradise! Local food! Craft beer! Portland is the hipster apotheosis (and every joke you can think of about it has already been made better in Portlandia). It is also the place where the protagonist of 50 shades lives, Anastasia Steele , and where the first steps of her relationship -high-voltage for some readers and deadly boring and predictable for others- are taken with the millionaire Grey.
Beyond the luxurious heathman hotel , whose to elevator 3 we imagine it invaded by couples who kiss each other passionately imitating the scene of the first kiss in the book, our accommodation option is the eclectic Edgefield , a restored old farmhouse with homemade wine and beer , movie screenings and gardens that remind us that we are in a state where the Wild West is more than just a label for movies. In the center of the city and the opposite of the previous proposal, the ** Ace Hotel ** is everything we expect from the city: eco-friendly, pet-friendly, terribly modern, relaxed and cool.
Ace Hotel, eco-friendly, pet-friendly...everything-friendly
One of the first conversations of the leading couple takes place in a portland coffee shop . They do well; If Seattle is the home of Starbucks, for better or – more likely – for worse, Portland has beaten it to the punch. Here coffee is religion, identity and culture. The biggest coffee roaster, grinder and blender will be satisfied: Barista, Stumptown Annex, Sterling Coffee Roasters to buy and return home for once with a useful souvenir… the list is endless, and all with an atmosphere full of that type of people who manage to maintain their dignity by combining a bow tie with a plaid shirt. **In the sweets section, Vodoo Donuts ** (which appear in the third of the books) would make Homer Simpson and anyone with half a brain salivate.
Of all Anastasia Steele's virginities, the most shocking is that she has never gotten drunk as a college girl in Portland, Capital of Craft Distilled Beers . In a world where the labels “organic” and “homemade” risk meaningless, beers from the historic **Bridgeport Brewpub or the Lucky Labrador Brewing Company** will make us rethink a thing or two.
The Stumptown cafe, an Annex 'must'
Lucky Labrador Brewing Company, up with homebrew!
SEATTLE When they finish university, Anastasia and her friend Kate move to the apartment that her parents have bought for her in the rainy, technological and climate-conscious Seattle environment . The area could not be better chosen: Pike's Place Market it is the jewel of the city , a market that combines fruits and vegetables with shops full of cool things, stimulating restaurants, a bohemian atmosphere and artists in general. Of another completely different roll is **the home? by Christian Grey, in the real building Escala **. If we are allergic to steel and concrete structures, the best hotel to stay in is the Inn at the Market , in the –we have already said that we love it, but it is never too much- Pike Place Market. From the same owners, the Coffee Campagne It is one of the best restaurants in town. More informal, the sandwiches of salumi It is well worth enduring the queues that form at the door of it.
Inn at the Market at Pike Place Market
The obsession with her submissive eating well does not prevent Gray from taking Anastasia to have pancakes in an iHOP , the chain of pancakes that is advertised with the very little cholesterol-free slogan “Where it's all about flavor. Not about limits” ("Where everything is about flavor, not limits", something that could also be applied to the relationship of the protagonists). The couple visits one in Savannah, Georgia , but there are branches all over the country. If the concept of this chain repels, in Seattle there are many options for breakfast and sweets that will reassure the most conscientious consumer: the 5 spots is famous for its Sunday brunches, almost as much as the ice creams at Molly Moon's or the cakes of the Piroshky Bakery .
iHOP, pancakes by the bag
The main recreational activities of the protagonists take place in a bed or in a plane many meters above the ground (those are the amusements of an eccentric millionaire), but you can't visit these cities without going to a live music venue As the crocodile (oh, the Seattle grunge scene only survives in the pages of Hate ) or pass by natural parks, like the ** Olympic National Park ,** one of the last quiet and lonely places left in America.
It will be possible to discuss eternally about the virtues and defects of this trilogy, which is still a fanfiction that got out of hand, but the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' phenomenon is welcome if it encourages someone to explore, not just sadomasochistic relationships, but the bounties of the North American Pacific Northwest.
Crocodile, from Daft Punk to Anna Calvi