City Day (Day 18) - Seattle

Finding ourselves in Seattle , we really didn't know what we wanted to do with the day. We decided that packing could wait until late afternoon. We had completely emptied the rental car last night and it's contents were now spread around our hotel room. We tidied a little before going out for the sake of house keeping and our own return later.

We could see the Space Needle, which seems to be the icon for Seattle from our window but neither of us has any particular ambition to go up it. One of the oddities of famous tall structures is that the one thing you can't see when you're up them is the icon itself. Lynne had turned up a tall building across town which enabled you to see the skyline but when we spoke to the lady on reception she suggested that we shouldn't waste our money on it but should instead get the bus to Kelly Park from where you could see everything that you would see from the tall buildings.

So, after a good breakfast we set out onto the streets of Seattle. The first grey, cool day we have had all holiday is the one we are walking. That said, it's been in the 80s and 90s for days which would have been too hot for city streets. Crossing a park, the floor was scattered with crisp autumn leaves, a reminder that it is now late August.

Our first destination was the park created for the 1962 World Fair in which the Space Needle stands. We pottered about looking up at the Needle and admiring the sculpted coloured metal shapes of the buildings where a monorail threaded through. Some early street artists and sellers were beginning to set up shop and there is an amazing childrens' playgroups in the middle. Generally a pleasant area very clearly retained as a cohesive park from its  setup for the World Fair.

We spent $27 a piece touring the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibition which even with my sceptical approach to art was impressive.

On the way out of the Worlds Fair complex we came across an excellent fountain, a hemisphere design with varying jets of water flying out in all directions and flowing over the half globe itself. Background music played and adults relaxed on the surrounding grassy area while kids played joyfully around the centre getting soaked. Good fun in Seattle where you will dry off but wouldn't quite work at home in Manchester to get the bus home soaked and cold.

We had been given bus details to get to Kerry Park but, us being us, we headed off walking. When you reach the edge of town the land sweeps steeply uphill towards three aerial masts, the steep roads climbing and flattening each time they cross an intersection before climbing again.
When we turned off into Kerry Park, which is a park in the sense of grass etc, we were greeted by a view across the entire city and bay. Now, don't get me wrong, Seattle is lovely in places, but it's not an amazing beautiful vista. The high rise city itself is compact with attractive glass towers but the view passes over the coastal railway tracks which prevent the waterfront being anything other than cut off and the massive commercial docks at the far end of the bay. A great view but not one you'd bother painting.

Net stop was to be Pike Place, a large indoor market reputed to be full of street food and interesting shops and the oddity of fish being thrown!

Our route was initially down to the coast where bridges take you over the freight line that hugs the edge of the city. Massive trains going through, a coal train had three loco's pulling and one pushing and took a full 8 minutes to pass. In the middle all you could see in both directions was trucks, both ends being out of sight. In this gigantic country, rail freight seems to be used the way it should be to transport heavy loads efficiently huge distances.

The first bit of waterfront we encountered was a park area where an event had been and workers were  busy clearing stalls and fences and tidying up. The sign at the end revealed a different attitude to cannabis in this part of the world - "Hempfest".

The waterfront quays varied with some piers hosting shops and stalls and others under maintained businesses. Large tour boats going out to sea and several very smart tall masted yachts coming and going though they also appeared to be short time charters.

We made our way along, occasional thwarted by roadworks and walkway closures, eventually turning inland crossing the railway again to Pike Place.

Once again this trip, I had incorrect expectations. I had imagined Seattle waterfront as an attractive seafront area and Pike Place converted quays, whereas, the waterfront is very cut off and Pike Place is a market hall 1/4 mile uphill from the coast.

A little disillusioned and hungry and hot, I still found Pikes Place colourful and varied and would recommend a visit, but I didn't find it full of attractive snack opportunities as hoped. Vibrant fruit and veg and amazing flower markets mixed with craft stalls and antiques.

Across the road from the market hall is the first ever Starbucks with a ridiculous queue of people wanting a coffee from this original store. It is amazing that this is where it all started, a simple coffee shop serving the market.

The market was set up by community and is still reputed to be a source of income for struggling people but I'm not sure of that structure, it just felt like a thriving town market. We were confused over eating, located a famous Crumpet Shop only to be greeted with 'out of crumpets' and finally bought two Chinese baked buns, Hom Bao, with BBQ pork filling.

The 'fish throwing' referred to earlier relates to a fish stall where when an order is taken, large salmon and skate are literally thrown by the guys at the front of the stall to the packers and tills in the centre. You have to be lucky enough to be there when someone purchases one of these monsters and it happens in a moment. Not a life essential to see but fun and novel.

Leaving the market, we searched out the 'Gum Wall', a rather disgusting concept where outside a theatre entrance in an alleyway people started sticking their gum to the wall. This tradition grew and, even though the wall was stripped only a year ago as acid in the gum attacks the brick, both sides of the alley are covered in colourful gum for 20 yards. People are there, chewing furiously, waiting to add their masticated contribution. You can actually smell the gum. Sounds disgusting but in actuality it is quite good for the novelty.

About 4pm we headed back to our hotel and set about packing, or Lynne did so whilst I kept out of the way checking flights, documents, car hire return etc. and disposing of  the 'trash' (I'm turning American).

Evening came and neither of us had any idea what we wanted to eat. We had promised our daughter we'd bring back some Milk Duds which she had developed a liking for when working in Chicago and went off hunting for them. Walgreens supplied them. I never can figure Walgreens, it looks like a chemist/pharmacy but is full of all sorts of other stuff. Sort of a cross between Boots, Superdrug and an old Woolworths.

Tired and a little lost in the end of trip mindset, we decided that we weren't going to beat last night's view and headed back to Tutta Bella, hoping for the balcony again. The balcony was there and beckoned so a second evening was spent with a good pizza, nice staff and a bottle of wine.

The sun sank and the skies darkened through shades of blue silhouetting the Space Needle. A lovely way to end our journey from Denver to Seattle. Tomorrow, it's the airport.