Sleeping in Seattle

Look, if you can think of a better title, perhaps you should be writing this blog!

I left Richland on Friday evening and after a week there, I'd become quite attached to the place. Most of my previous US trips have been to the big cities (New York, Washington DC) so it was unusual (for me) to visit a relatively small town. I'm guessing but I reckon the population of Richland can't be more than 70,000. The traffic is quieter, the people are friendlier and (this may be the clincher) the weather last week was brilliant. I wasn't sure how long it would take to reach the Seattle hotel so I grabbed an early cheeseburger at Rosie's deli, next to the Hampton. True to form, the staff were friendly and the burger was delicious.

Anyway, moving on.....to Seattle. Thankfully the flight was OK, the pilot managed to dodge some particularly nasty looking thunderstorms and we arrived 15 minutes early. I got the shuttle van into the city - bit of a wait but it's a hell of a sight cheaper than a cab. Hotel Deca is outside the main downtown area, in the University district. It's been updated quite recently and has pretensions of being a "boutique" style but doesn't quite make it. Still, it's nice to stay in a place which is a bit off the beaten track and isn't part of the Hilton Empire.

After a week of early starts I actually stayed in bed till 8 and had a real breakfast instead of the Hampton Inn freebie that I've put up with all week. Not being too sure of the city layout, I took a taxi downtown then walked through the main shopping streets down to the Pike Street Market. It's like a UK Farmers' market only 10 times the size and with 1000 times the crowd! I walked round for about 15 minutes but it was way, way too busy for me, so i walked down to the waterfront to escape the crowds. Another slight disappointment: betwen the market and the waterside, there's a 4 lane elevated highway. So you've got to cross a few bridges, down an alley, through the carpark..........

Most of ther local coffee shops are Tully's, not Starbucks, so in the interest of research, I had my mid-morning cup of Tully's. To be honest, I couldn't tell the difference, but then, I like Starbucks (and most of the competition). Perhaps I'm just not that choosy about coffee after all!

Walked back to the downtown area and caught the monorail to the Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle. There was quite a line for the viewing platform but I decided it was worth it so I joined the back of the queue. This time it was worth it, the view across Puget Sound was pretty spectacular. I'd skipped lunch after my huge late breakfast, so I settled on an early dinner in the revolving restaurant. Even better, they had some special offers (free wine & free cheesecake - couldn't miss that!).

Finally went native and got the bus back to my hotel - and that's all folks! Tomorrow - Toronto.

p.s. Sorry about the confusion with the previous post - the system decided to publish only the first two lines. Fortunately it saved the full version and I've dug it out now. Just in case, this is the full address of my blog http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/malcognito/

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