Sightseeing: Seattle

My second day in Seattle was a revisit to some stuff I'd seen on my previous trips but I also wanted to find some things a little more unusual. 

The rotating elephant car wash was at the top of the road my hotel was on. 

Downtown was a short walk away and I found the Popcap head office. This wasn't intentional, I wouldn't want people to think I was sad enough to plan this.

Seattle hates Monty Python!

Down by Pike Place is this huge totem pole

Pike Place is famous for it's fish market. Get here early and watch the seller chuck fish about. Get here late and they're just throwing ice away.

I guess I got here in good time.

The first Starbucks is located at Pike Place and I thought I'd found it last time but realised when I got back I hadn't. So I made sure this time I found it but I didn't go in because there was a large queue of tourists wanting to go in, and I don't like Starbucks!

Not one to miss an opportunity...

Some weird art installations on one of the piers.

I hadn't done the aquarium previously so bought a tourist gift book and visited it this time. The large aquarium, whilst not as big as Atlanta, was still impressive and I really liked the loop aquarium although I couldn't figure out how the young girl breathed in it.

MUMMY!!! MUMMY!!! LOOK IT'S NEMO. LOOK MUMMY!!!

(I'm just giving you the usual ambience that can be heard around these fish)

Looking like a Bond Baddie's base, this part of the aquarium was home to some otters, who looked a bit bored. I think they need more to play with.

I was thinking about going to visit some puffins in Alaska but didn't, so I can still say I saw some on this trip, albeit in captivity.

Back at the main tank and the management do their daily staff dunking. Actually this was a cool Q&A as the kids asked questions and the person in the tank responded.

This was a nice surprise. Wings over Washington is a ride similar in style to Soaring over California at Disney and the one I did in Vancouver during my Canadian holiday. This one has a pretty good preshow making good use of surround sound, and some 4D type effects that make the film a little more interesting than those other rides. I enjoyed it!

Postcard pier shot.

I thought I'd use the tourist ticket book to get a ticket for the boat tour around the Seattle harbour. This was pretty good although the staff made a big deal about tipping which I didn't like.

Seals fighting over a little sunbathing spot.

A rather yummy ice cream from the Seattle Bay Creamery.

Cool manhole cover. It would be even better if they marked where you were on it.

A cool tribute to the firemen at Pioneer Park.

Apparently the pyramid used to house a huge water tank which would be opened if the lower floors ever caught fire. Now it's an expensive apartment.

Union Station

Chinatown

I was walking away from the tourist stuff for this, the Seattle pinball museum which can be found near the SE corner of Chinatown. This place was amazing with so much history and a lot of the machines in top condition. You can pay for an unlimited single session or day session. I took the former and stayed here for a couple of hours.

The even had a Baby PacMan which was half video game half pinball table. So cooool!

Close to the pinball museum I walked up a very steep hill (Seattle is a bit like San Fransisco in places) and thought I'd rest at this nice Japanese community garden. As I entered it I heard a gunshot from within so I promptly left, as did a homeless chap who was resting under a nearby tree.

That's the SkyView Observatory which offers the high point over the city.

The views were pretty good and it was nice to look down on The Space Needle.

This library is award winning for it's design. It looks a bit like the robot from Demon Seed.

Back to the piers now and this is chewing gum alley which can be found under Pike Place. A couple of years ago it was all cleaned up much to the locals disgust who'd taken a liking to it. So in a small act of rebellion the people have been putting it all back. Hah!

I passed this cool construction project on the way back to the hotel. It's going to become part of the Amazon campus and will include over 300 different plants including some trees. They've clearly got money to spend.

For dinner I went to Zeek's, a small chain of pizza places that does amazing food. Highly recommended.

and once again I make it back to the Space Tower and the end of another day