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Published: September 11th 2010
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Pike Place Market
Pike Place Market is a public market overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington. The market opened in 1907, and is one of the oldest continually operated public farmers' markets in the United States. Currently in Banff, Alberta (Canada) sipping on a hot coffee and feeling like absolute crap. I think the last few months of travel have finally caught up with me. Figured I'd rest up today and try to update my travel blog.
Okay Seattle - the 'Emerald City'. After the early morning dramas in Detroit, I was grateful to reach my gate and step onto the plane. I REALLY feel sorry for the couple that was sitting next to me on the flight - shoddy AC and me sweating booze from the previous night out.
Once we touched down at Sea-Tac airport I hopped onto the light rail into downtown and walked the 6 blocks to the hostel. I think my back is getting stronger from all this heavy lifting .... either that or my spine has compacted and cut off my nerve endings. The hostel I stayed in was very close to Pike Place Market and the Space Needle. I spent most of my mornings strolling through the market people watching and grabbing the odd coffee here and there.
Paul recommended that I grab a ticket to the Seattle Underground Tour. The tour takes guests through a network
Pike Place Fish Market
Founded in 1930, the Pike Place Fish Market is known for their tradition of fishmongers throwing fish that customers have purchased, before they are wrapped. The store is a VERY popular tourist destination, attracting up to 10,000 daily visitors. of underground passageways and basements in Pioneer Square.
/ Start history lesson /
During the “Great Seattle Fire” in 1889, around 25 city blocks were destroyed (without a single death). Since most of the destroyed buildings were made from wood, it was decided that all new construction must be of stone or brick. Since the town of Seattle was originally founded on soggy tide flats, the powers that be also decided that the new streets needed to be a storey or two higher. The new street level also assisted in ensuring that gravity-assisted flush toilets did not back up at high tide.
At first pedestrians climbed ladders to go between the new street level and the sidewalks in front of the building entrances. Once the new sidewalks were completed, brick archways were used to fill the gap between the new sidewalk and the shop entrances. Building owners moved their businesses to the new ground floor but the underground sidewalks were still used by pedestrians up until the passageways were closed because of high rat populations and the fear of the outbreak of pneumonic plague.
/ End history lesson /
I did take a trip up
the Space Needle and visited the EMP (Experience Music Project) and Science Fiction museum. I was pretty impressed with the EMP exhibits, especially the ones dedicated to Jimi Hendrix and the Seattle music scene - Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden etc. This is all going over your head isn’t it Dad?
I tried my best to sample as much seafood as possible - everything from smoked salmon to clam chowder and seafood bisque. I was actually surprised by the number of Japanese food outlets around town. I wasn’t aware of this prior to flying into Seattle but teriyaki has become, or is on its way to becoming, Seattle’s signature dish.
I did stumble across a piroshky outlet while wandering around Pikes Place Market. It’s basically a baked piece of pastry that’s stuffed with a range of fillings - I settled for the smoked salmon pate.
I've uploaded some of the larger panoramic shots to my Flickr album. Click
here to view the panoramic shots from Seattle or
here to view all of my photos from the road trip.
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