GREETINGS FROM SEATTLE, Washington (WA), USA
Well here we are – 10 years on from our 1st USA trip and at the start of our 6th USA trip and in our 27th US State – think we like the place ? You betcha !!
We have 2 nights in Seattle and have a great spot at the Mayflower Park Hotel. Today was our “hit the ground running day”. After our long flight to LA, we had a couple of hours to kill before our Alaska Airlines connecting flight to Seattle. All flights were on time and our connection worked perfectly.
We had a bit of a walk from Qantas in Terminal 3 to Alaska Air in Terminal 6 but after all the time sitting it was good to stretch our legs.
Getting through Seattle airport was pretty quick and we were able to get a taxi without any trouble. It was late morning so the 20 minute drive to Downtown Seattle was pretty smooth. On the way we passed the huge Boeing airplane factory which seemed to go on forever ! And we spotted one of the new 787 Dreamliners which will be hitting the skyways soon.
Our room was not ready when we arrived so we left our bags and headed down to the famous Pike Place Market, not far from our hotel and down on the waterfront.
The markets are full of everything – fresh seafood and produce, fresh flowers, all manner of condiments, art and craft stores, antique stores, restaurants and cafes and various “quirky” stores as well.
The store holders, especially the fishmongers, ham it up for the crowd, throwing huge fish at one another as customers pick their lot.
It is a rabbit warren – with alley ways on various levels and ramps leading this way and that.
And for mid-week it was very busy. Just across the road is the original “Starbucks Coffee” store. Starbucks introduced the “takeway coffee ” phenomenon and now has stores all over the world. Seattle seems to have them on every street corner ! But queuing to get your coffee at the original store is obviously the thing to do. The line extends out the shop door and down the street and they have attendants keeping the line orderly and making sure the line isn’t blocking other shop entries.
I would have to say Starbucks coffee isn’t good enough to make me want to queue down the street for it – especially when you can walk a block to an empty store and get it!
We found a nice deli – DeLaurenti’s – which had lovely fresh rolls on offer so we settled in with a couple of those for a late lunch and watch the tourists go buy from the shopfront table.
After checking out the location of a couple of landmarks we will need for tomorrow’s itinerary, we headed back to the hotel so we can get various things organised for the trip ahead. Important stuff like setting up phone and Ipad sim cards, getting the GPS its bearings, and so on.
We are both flagging a bit now after only a bit of dozing in the last 24 hours so I think it will be room service and an early night tonight. And then a big day of sightseeing tomorrow !