I managed to sleep until 5am which wasn’t bad considering the 8-hour time difference. I laid quietly reading the news on my phone until Karen stirred.
We were all up and eating some dry toast around 7am and then showered and were all ready just after 8am. I headed out to the car early to set up Apple Car Play to help with the directions today.
Today’s plan was to head into downtown Seattle starting at the Space Needle and so headed in that direction and quickly found close and reasonably priced parking at the nearby Seattle Centre. It was a looking to be a beautiful day as we walked to the Space Needle via the MacDonalds opposite for some much-needed MacBreakfast.
Looking like ahow everyone imagined a Flying Saucer would look in the early 1960’s perched upon a tower, the Space Needle was rapidly built and opened in early 1962. It is an iconic structure that cost $1 each to go up when it open. Since then, they seemed to have increased the price by another $1 each year.
We bought digital tickets from the booth outside which included a visit to the Chihuly Glass and Garden next door, somewhere Karen had regretted not visiting on our previous time in Seattle. Our ticket purchase was going so well until it involved trying to open the QR code on my phone to get access to the tickets. Eventually I managed it by using a different browser and with that sorted made our way to the elevators to take us to the top.
The ride up was a mere 40 seconds and we were greeted with a magnificent view all around. We could even make out the House boat used in Sleepless in Seattle, although I couldn’t see Frasier’s apartment anywhere. We wandered around slowly taking photos before going down a level to what used to be the revolving restaurant that has since been converted to a revolving glass floor walkway. Karen refused to set foot upon it, convinced that she would be the one to somehow make the glass shatter and plummet herself back down to earth.
After a complete revolution we caught the elevator back down and walked over to the Chihuly Glass and Garden. This was stunning, showing his amazing vision and craftmanship. Normally this sort of things leaves me nonplussed but this was terrific especially in the specially designed settings. The only shame was that that I felt there just wasn’t enough of it to justify the cost of entry but the weather outside in the gardens made up for.
It brought us onto a question we almost always ask ourselves when travelling, ‘What other Cities are on roughly the same latitude as we are now?’. The answer it seems for Seattle is Paris which explains the milder climate we were experiencing.
We all now needed a drink and walked to a nearby Starbucks at the Armory. We sat a while and then a while longer enjoying the almost perfect weather.
Our next destination was Pike Place Market which was just over 1 mile walk away, containing the site of the original Starbucks and the famous Fish Market that inspired the management books of the 1990’s – ‘Fish’ and its follow ups.
The whole market area was very busy. The queue outside the first ever Starbucks went a long way down the street. The truth was though was that the actual original was around the corner but had relocated here after five years, but never let the actual truth get in the way of a money-spinning tourist attraction.
We then made our way down many flights of stairs to the Waterfront where we eventually sat for a while underneath the Seattle Wheel. Graham searched in vain to spot any wildlife in the sea.
None of us fancied the walk back to the Space Needle which was all very uphill involving some steep climbs and instead we caught the free Seattle Waterfront Shuttle with a very chatty driver who entertained us as he drove.
Back at the needle we walked back to this morning’s Starbucks getting more drinks whilst listening to the Music Festival taking place on the adjacent grassland. It was almost like being on holiday. Graham almost went to have his future told by a Psychic but I already knew in advance he would not actually have it done.
The next plan was a drive to an Outback restaurant for our dinner. A good plan poorly executed as we timed it just when the Seattle Mariners team had finished beating the Giants at baseball and the crowd were snow pilling out onto the roads around the stadium that we trying to drive along meaning road blocks everyway we turned. The journey took about 25 minutes longer than it should.
This was T&G’s first visit to an Outback and we were excited for them. We all had the Outback special and we all really enjoyed our meals.
We were in need of some snacks and breakfast items for the next day and so drove to a close by Walmart to purchase them and other things we didn’t know we needed. As in every Walmart we have ever visited it was very busy.
The journey back was uneventful and we had a nice cuppa (and maybe some wine for Karen & I from wine that may have been donated by BA) listening to some old 70’s music on You Tube before retiring.
It had been a busy but enjoyable day almost constantly on the go.
