Seattle
Seattle Skyline from the cruise ship
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As part of our cruise to Alaska, Erich and I decided to visit the city of Seattle before we left. We arrive late at night, but was immediately greated with the cool weather and beautiful city skyline. Our day started with a rainy trek to find McDonald's followed by walk through downtown. Several things we first noticed of Seattle is that it's very hilly, like SF, but much cleaner. And the buildings were much better designed. I found a few I liked very much. |
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We first headed over to walk through Chinatown, which was more like any other neighborhood except for a series of Asian restaurants and some interesting Chinese dragon statues on various street poles. We winded our way through the waterfront, shopping in a few stores, and walking along the Pike Place Street Fair. Here, there were lots of fresh seafood and flowers for sale. The one thing that is so nice about Seattle is that there is a very large emphasis on design. The buildings, houses, even street signs are done with a feel for the arts.
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Following the waterfront, we headed to the shopping district, where we found the local Banana Republic, Shaper Image, and the local Loews Theatre. We later decided to see Alex & Emma at the movies.Before lunch, we took the famous Monorail over the Seattle Space Needle. We wanted to have lunch in the rotating restaurant, but a 45 minute wait to go and pay $12 for a hamburger seemed a waste. |
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To get to the observation deck, you have to take a glass elevator that goes straight up. I made Erich close his eyes, but as soon as he stepped out, he froze in place. At that height, the tower moves with the wind and it gave Erich a scare. I decided to take a walk outside to see Seattle from the heights. It was beautiful. I finally convinced Erich to come out onto the deck and despite staying against the wall, I did manage a picture of him at the edge.
Erich, braving the heights!
Scott as we leave port
We then headed back to the shopping district, had lunch, and then watched our movie. We finally winded our way back to the hotel to rest. When it came time for dinner, we decided to go out, but our walking the city was fruitless as there were hardly any good restaurants in downtown Seattle. In fact, there were none. We finally gave up and went back to the hotel for roomservice. The following morning, we packed up our things and headed to the ship. Seattle is a beautiful city and certainly a place we could see ourselves living, except perhaps the food.
A blocked, but beautiful view of Mt. Ranier
When we arrived back in port, we took a scenic tour of the city. Our busdriver was very knowledgable of Seattle, and showed us many things we did not see by walking. We were taken through the University of Washington, one of the most beautiful college campuses I've seen. We also got some amazing views of Mt. Ranier that we weren't able to see the week before due to weather. Unfortunately, our trip ended with a 3 hour delay in the Seattle airport (after already being there 3 hours early), but it was worth it, the city was amazing.