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Published: September 3rd 2011
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Continuing from last blog:
Tues 30th Aug - we took the Clipper Ferry from Victoria to Seattle, a very smooth and pleasant journey of just under 3 hours. The ferry is catamaran style, two decks, plenty of space for upto around 300 people. We shared a booth with a couple from Memphis, a retired eye surgeon and his wife, so time passed quickly as we were all busy chatting.
On arrival in Seattle it was about a 10-15 min walk to the accommodation in Queen Anne district - the Mediterranean Inn. Not really mediterranean in any sense, quite dated decor, fan instead of air-con and again a "kitchenette" which is actually a microwave, fridge and coffee maker - clearly the latter is a Canadian/American thing; instead of a kettle in the room you get a coffee maker so if you don't drink coffee you have to 'boil' water as if percolating coffee - the result, a lukewarm cuppa! Ah well. But the room was spacious enough, dark with then blackout blinds and a comfy bed - and very clean. The accommodation is also just a stone's throw away from Seattle Centre, where there's several attractions including the famous Seattle
Needle and a huge arena.
As it was only mid-afternoon we headed straight to downtown, about 25 - 30 mins walk. We wandered around a bit - Macy's, a couple of malls including the Pacific Mall where we visited Gordon Biersch for a sample of 6 beers brewed there (excellent, possibly best beer yet) and ate dinner at a Thai place - best pad thai for a long time too.
The retail opening hours are very long here, until 8 or 10 pm depending on the day. Also noteworthy was the number of homeless people and people asking for money - all ages, mostly men.
Wed 31st Aug - another day of walking and wandering. Like yesterday the weather was good, a cool start to the day gradually warming up to a pretty hot temperature, no need for jackets or long sleeves at all. We were warned that it always rains in Seattle but didn't see any rain the whole trip.
Visited the Colombia Centre - there's an observation deck on the 73rd floor but we just had a quick peek there, the coffee shop on the 40th had good views. Close by we had lunch
- chowder and gumbo.
We caught a bus to the university area then walked to the University Village, another retail outlet a few miles north-east of downtown. There's plenty of evidence of international students here, every type of cuisine available and a laid-back, relaxed atmosphere. The street lamps were very artistic, each with a separate design sponsored by a different business or group.
We particularly wanted to go the the University Village to visit the Apple store to make a purchase; it seems funny being in a big city and having to travel outside the centre to do so - but Seattle is the home of Microsoft (and Amazon....... and Starbucks)!!!!! Anyway we got what we wanted and it was well worth it. By the time we got back to the room we'd been out about 11 hours - some serious walking! Ate Indian locally at Roti - very well cooked food but so much of it we took half of it away with us for tomorrow.
Thurs 1st Sept - an excellent day, the best one we've had in Seattle, pretty much half a day at Pike Place Market and the other half at SAM -
Seattle Art Museum, which we planned to visit anyway but got a bonus on arrival by discovering it was free because it was the first Thursday of the month. Which reminds me of something else that's very good here: there's a free bus route (99) which runs along the waterfront and First Ave, making getting about easy - we can walk to the place where we got off the ferry and catch it there, saving a bit of walking time (and shoe leather)! But also all buses are free in the downtown area, you only pay for journeys outside of downtown and if you have to transfer buses the transfer is more or less free - the driver gives you a ticket valid for the next couple of hours. One exceptionally nice female driver gave us tickets to use for the whole night, completely free. But I digress!
The market was a photographer's and foodie's heaven - loads of fresh produce arranged perfectly, plenty of free samples along the way and many places to eat. We chose Pike Place Chowder for lunch as it had won awards and had a huge queue every time we passed (so we went
back later in the day); we had 4 samples of different chowders and bisques and all were exceptional.
The market also had lots of arty stuff, jewellery, clothing, in fact all sorts of goods were available, over 3 floors and 2 blocks. Well worth a visit. Oh, we had a chocolate-dipped jalapeno too at the Chocolate Factory. Unusaual! Their chocolate covered apple were works of art!
Briefly visited the Hard Rock Cafe and tasted the beers at the Pike brewpub - not as good as some of the others we've tried.
SAM (Seattle Art Museum) was excellent too, most of the exhibitions were good to look at - African art, Aboriginal art and plenty contemporary stuff too.
Fri 2nd Sept - visited the Olympic Sculpture Park, on the waterfront and not far at all from where we're staying. Worth a look, it's a branch of SAM. In the indoor section there was some art in the form of creative and innovative recycling - big clear plastic cubes with slots for plastic caps, bottles, etc - but a different colour in each cube so that the result, when full, is brightly coloured cubes, like a rainbow.
Next we went to Pioneer Sqaure, not just a square but an entire area dedicated to the early history of Seattle's pioneers - the Klondike gold rush museum, Occidental Square, Pioneer building, Fallen Fire Fighters Memorial, Totem Poles, Victorian-Romanesque buildings, Waterfall Gardens.... interesting.
We hoped to see some artists studios at 619 Western, but when we got there found out the building is condemned as a result of the 2001 earthquake and all the artists have to be out by Oct 1st. A very nice lady on the 6th floor showed us her studio anyway and we chatted for a while, however knowing the building is damaged and seeing for myself the crack running right down one wall - and knowing I'll be back in Christchurch soon enough - I was happy to get back down to street level.
Ate lunch at a Middle Eastern place near the market then Mac went back to the room whilst I had a haircut and colour at Aveda on First Ave - a lovely experience that included a foot bath and massage.
Sat 3rd Sept - so now we're on the Amtrak train from Seattle back to Vancouver. As there
was no wi-fi in the room and there is on the train it's a great opportunity to catch up on the blog. We've a 4-hour journey to Vancouver then later we catch a Greyhound bus to Whistler, home for the next 3 days.
The train is very comfortable, big wide seats, fab hot chocolate from the bistro, lots of space, and clean. It was an early start today, up at 5.15 a.m, so will be another long day. More from Canada!
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