Ah, Sunny Seattle!

The ride from Spokane to Seattle was yet another experience of contrasts – from the vast high plain of eastern Washington to the jagged Cascades east of Seattle. We briefly caught a glimpse of Mt. Rainier, which was extraordinary! It was a real ‘fish or cut bait’ moment for me, because we had a view of Mt. Rainier on the left and a huge wind farm on the right! I hope we see more of Mt. Rainier on the way to Portland tomorrow.

And before you knew it we were in Seattle. If the weather was like this every day in Seattle I’d be moving here (well, you know, if things were different and all…). If the weather was this nice in Seattle all the time we would have completely missed grunge music in the 90s – nobody can be sad or angry on a day like this!

We arrived in the early afternoon, and after checking into the hotel we got our bearings and headed out to see the city. Actually, we headed down, because our hotel is at the top (or very nearly) of a very steep hill. Possibly a mountain. I’ve never seen a city road so steep; it makes the 10% grades we encountered in the Big Horn Mountains look like the beginners’ slope at Massanutten. And they have traffic lights at every corner! If I lived here I’d open a brake repair shop at the bottom of the hill.

Our first stop was the Seattle Public Library, a somewhat famous building by an interesting and obscure (at least in the U.S.) architect, Rem Koolhaas. This being my first Koolhaas I had to get some pictures and go inside. The building is ugly as sin, and saying that probably wouldn’t upset Mr. Koolhaas, who is too much of a vanguard to care about appearances, despite the fact that appearance is one of the cornerstones (thank you – it just came to me! I’m here all week!) of his profession. It might be a good library – don’t know, neither of us needed a book – but as a building it’s a stinker.

Then it was off to Pike Street market – about the coolest place around. It’s a wild, crowded, exhilarating public market where folks are selling everything you can imagine, but the best part is the fish market. They’ve got every kind of seafood there is (fresh whole squid anyone?), and it’s all ready for you to take home for dinner (or take on the plane – they boast being able to pack fresh fish in ‘smell proof’ containers that are good for up to two days and airline-friendly). It was fascinating to see, and even more entertaining when the guys started throwing fish to each other. They were very entertaining and worked the crowd like pros. I think Paul and I briefly considered buying a big tuna just because it looked like so much fun. In addition to fish there were several flower shops, produce shops, and even a few butchers. It was great fun to walk through.

Next we walked halfway up ‘the hill’ to catch the monorail to the Space Needle. The monorail was fun; the park it took us to is wonderful. The monorail actually passed through the Experience Music Project, a rock and roll museum. The museum was designed by Frank Gehry and is really wild looking – possibly ugly but more funny than anything. It looks right at home surrounded by a monorail and small roller coaster. But I digress again. We didn’t go up in the needle, but spent about an hour in the surrounding park. In addition to the amusement park rides there are several other museums and theaters and a wonderful fountain that was getting plenty of use on this hot day.

Eventually we made our way back to the Pike Street market for dinner. We found a small restaurant with windows facing the Bay and had a wonderful seafood dinner. The restaurant was about 100 yards from the fish market, so there was no questioning the freshness of the fish. Paul’s mixed seafood plate and my salmon were both amazing (see the pics – they were beautiful, too!). It was a great meal in an unpretentious environment; it was the perfect end to the day. It was followed by a long walk up a steep hill, but who cares? I’d have dinner there again in a heartbeat.

Paul will be back tomorrow with fewer architecture lessons and more of his mouthwatering restaurant reviews.