wide awake in seattle

Between work and well, work, I've become somewhat of a homebody rather early into my time in Vancouver. So when my work schedule revealed three days off in a row, I decided to dig out my passport.

Seattle is just a four-hour bus ride away so I settled on that as my destination. Bus tickets are quite cheap (another bonus) and I found a Couchsurfing host. Despite being pretty exhausted after seven days straight at work, I booked a 7.45am bus, so it was an early start to make it to the station to collect my ticket an hour beforehand.

The bus ride was uneventful: no dramatic change in scenery, no dramas at US customs, and we even pulled into Seattle early. The only thing I really knew about this city before arriving, was what I had seen in Grey's Anatomy. So not much. But everyone I spoke to about my trip had plenty of suggestions so that was helpful. Fresh off the bus, I went in search of a tourist information office. I was staring at a map outside a shopping centre when a man approached me and asked what I was looking for. "What lovely people Seattle-ites are" I thought, before he then stuck a cup out and asked for money. I said I only had Canadian money on me and he said that was OK as he would go and exchange it. "The last people I helped gave me $5 Canadian," he said. I gave him 50cents and walked off...angry at myself for not realising I was being scammed.

But it did get me to visitor information. A couple of maps and directions to Wells Fargo (apparently the best place to get my cash exchanged) and I was set. I love a good market so when I heard about Pike Place Market, I thought that sounded like a good way to spend a few hours. The market has a collection of permanent shops, including the first Starbucks, and then an array of temporary vendors. Not all the stalls come every day, and there are rarely in the same spot if they do. It keeps the customers guessing, one vendor told me. I browsed some of the stalls and made an exception to my "no buying" rule and invested in a necklace that has a dried flower pressed in between the glass. The woman said they picked them from their garden and pressed them by sticking them in big books for a couple of years. The flowers in my necklace were picked in 2009.

The market has a lot of flower stalls run by Hmong people (a Chinese ethnic minority), fruit and vegetables, and fish. One of the stalls is well-known for its fish-throwing antics. The staff are more showmen than salesmen. Every time someone buys a fish the guy at the front near the stands picks it up (usually a big tuna, trout or salmon) and throws it up to the guys doing the filleting. Those guys often throw it straight back and this goes on for a little bit. Draws in the tourists anyhow.


When buying a peach from one of the stands I asked the guy for a recommendation for lunch and ended up at the Steelhead Diner. It had a good view of the water and a decent menu too. I didn't get around to having a burger the last time I was in the States so I made up for it today. What is it with North Americans and their sour pickle? Urgh.


After lunch I headed to the antiques market, which is by the waterfront. I resisted the urge to buy a typewriter and headed over to the water. Despite an average forecast, the weather was beautiful and I was kicking myself for not bringing sunscreen. I took my time along the waterfront, stopping at some of the piers. One of them had several bright yellow deck chairs chained to it so I took a seat. I was nearly drifting off before a woman approached me and said she was about to jump in the water and not to worry, she knew how to swim. Damn hippies.

I continued my walk to the Olympic Sculpture Park and up to the Space Needle. That's the tower that's shown in every shot of Seattle, not that I knew what it was called until a couple of days ago. A customer at work recommended I skip the Space Needle and instead visit Columbia Tower, which is cheaper and higher. So I just admired the needle from below and caught the monorail back to the city centre. I spend the rest of the afternoon wandering through town and checking out a bit more of the market before I headed to my host's place.

Although I sent out a few couch requests, I didn't have much luck and ended up posting on the Seattle last minute couch requests group, as I did in Paris. A guy called John, along with a couple of others, offered to host me. John moved to Seattle a few years ago. He works in IT and joined CS because his kids live on the East Coast so he was thinking it might be a good thing to do when he goes there to visit them. Although he's been a member for years, he's only started hosting recently. I'd told him where I work and took him some of our bestselling tea to try so we ended up grabbing dinner at a little place that sells 150 different teas. I'm really getting into trying lots of teas now so that was fun for me. After dinner we went to a bar called Tavern Law and had a couple of cocktails. I ordered an English Fizz - earl grey gin, honey, lemon and soda - although that was a bit of a miss, so next time I chose a different one. The bar was very cool - there is an upstairs section that we think is only accessed by reservation. When people arrive to go up there they have to ring on this little old-school telephone downstairs before they are about to open the door to go up. The conversations are quite lengthy but I have no idea what they are about.