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Published: October 6th 2009
Today we left the wilderness behind for now, and with the help of our intrepid guide, Helen, we negotiated the Seattle area freeways and traffic and arrived at the Silver Cloud Inn on Lake Union. We were impressed this small hotel chain’s amenities (free shuttle, breakfast, laundry, internet, 24 hour coffee, etc.) and with our large room with its picture window view of Lake Union. Also impressive was the picture window-sized flat screen TV—just in time for all those weekend football games—not! Dave did enjoy getting to tune into ESPN to catch up on all the action once we returned from our sight seeing, however. (Hes been very good about keeping sports in its "proper place" on this trip, I must say...)
We took advantage of the shuttle and started the afternoon at Pike Place Market which was crazy crowded with both tourists and locals doing their weekend shopping. We wandered through the fish stands and flower stalls (huge dahlias everywhere!), and interspersed were handicraft booths (with more boutiques on the several levels below—like a giant craft faire). We had a less than stellar fish and chips lunch (line doesn’t necessarily indicate quality), then wandered by the more upscale food
shops and boutiques across the main street. When we’d had enough of the crowds, we wandered down 1st Street to the Seattle Art Museum, where we visited the hall of native northwest coast art and artifacts and a special exhibit on Andrew Wyeth. Then we walked on to the Pioneer Square area, and enjoyed the historic architecture. After a quick stop at the famous Elliott Bay Book Company (a classic independent bookstore, but with much more famous authors doing readings), we returned to the hotel.
Dinner was an Experience! We went to a restaurant called Assaggio, recommended by friend, Kim Pasciuto, who lived in Seattle for many years before moving to SLO County. We had managed to snag a late reservation, but didn’t realize how popular it was until we arrived and found it packed to overflowing with people clearly enjoying themselves and the food. We settled at the bar with a glass of wine to wait…and wait…watching the short, round, heavily bespectacled man (whom we thought was the maitre d’) work the room. He was a bundle of energy, effusively greeting customers with hugs and kisses, sharing a taste of the wine he personally brought to a table,
making suggestions about the menu to others, and all the while the wait staff wove in and out of the sea of tables doing their thing. It was quite frenetic and quite entertaining, but still we waited… About a half hour past our reservation time, he came by, threw his arm around Dave and promised he hadn’t forgotten us. It had occurred to me that he might be the owner, Mauro Golmarvi, whom Kim had mentioned to me, and he confirmed it was so. When I told him I brought greetings from Kim and her (Italian born) husband, Ciro, he burst into smiles, gave me a huge hug and kiss (the first of many that evening) and was nearly overcome with emotion at the thought of his far away friends. “I miss those guys SO much!” he kept saying with his charming Italian accent, and made me tell what I knew about their lives. However, our newly discovered connections did nothing to shorten our wait. Not surprisingly, none of the diners was in a hurry to leave. An hour after our reservation time, Mauro charged across the dining room followed by a waiter carrying a table over his head, which
he managed to squeeze into the already crowded space, and we finally settled down to a delicious Italian feast—worth the wait!!
The next morning, after a substantial complimentary breakfast at the hotel, we took the shuttle to the Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle, Experience Music Project, Key Arena, numerous theaters, performing arts venues, parks, fountains, and a kids’ carnival. Dave had been eagerly anticipating the EMP, and it did not disappoint! The Frank Gehry designed building was incredible, inside and out, and we enjoyed well-designed and interesting exhibits on Jimi Hendrix, the history of the guitar, and history of music in the Pacific Northwest. But the highlight for Dave was the music “lab”, where he was able to play with all the big boy toys—electric guitar, drums, keyboard. He had a ball!
From Seattle Center we took a quick walk to the waterfront and toured through the Olympic Sculpture Garden—the gorgeous weather made this extra pleasant. Then we returned to Seattle Center where we discovered an Italian Heritage Festival was taking place in another area—complete with grape stomping, cooking demos by TV chefs, food booths, singing groups, a bocce ball tournament, a cured meat competition, a
beer and wine garden with the requisite strolling accordion player, all kinds of Italian products for sale from t-shirts to olive oil, etc, etc. I insisted on spending some time there soaking in the atmosphere, and Dave was happy to oblige, especially when cannoli were involved. Then Dave returned to the hotel, while I felt compelled to do the touristy thing and ride the elevator to the top of the Space Needle. There I added to the series of photos taken from the tops of high places that began in Europe last summer… The views were great, but didn’t quite measure up to those from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Dinner that night was at Flying Fish, where we enjoyed a more contemporary take on seafood. Then back to our room to enjoy those cannoli we’d purchased at the Italian Festival earlier that day.
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