[NB This blog post has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2008!]
Sorry, folks, 2 posts in one day! The visit to the oober library was not all that happened on Tuesday …
The (un)rest of Tuesday
As I write, I’m sitting alone (except for my Macbook), eating a stunning bowl of chicken and pasta at a table in a restaurant adjacent to my hotel and listening to Elvis on the radio. He is singing “When will you be mine” (if that’s the title) and just out the window is the car wash that he brought his pink Cadillac to every day when he was here in the early sixties making a film about the world fair I think. This was one of the many facts that came out of the wild man who captained the amphibious vehicle I travelled on today – “Ride the Ducks” As somebody who is feeling the lack of company while being surrounded by hundreds of people, I was wonderfully surprised to suddenly be part of an experience that was one to remember for many many years to come – and one that I would recommend to anyone visiting Seattle above all else that I’ve so far discovered (with the possibility of REI – see below).
A wonderfully entertaining trip through the streets of Seattle then around lake Union and back again – with an amusing commentary and lots of interesting facts along the way.
For example, Seattle is not only a city of bridges – but one of outdoor art. Do you know that every new corporate building has to contribute one per-cent of the building cost to outside art? What a fantastic idea – and it really shows in downtown Seattle.
As well as seeing the “house” from Sleepless in Seattle (I don’t remember a house in the film – but then it’s a chic-flick so I may have allowed my mind to wonder), we also saw loads of house boats and floating homes (the latter don’t have motors or steering gear). It’s true and it’s completely amazing that people pay 3 million dollars for a good floating house on the lake. I had no idea – and one large one even has the ability to be driven around – I just don’t get it.
Well, I did the shops in a big way today – walking for nearly 7 hours in total. But I couldn’t find a native American doll for Gwenny or anything for Martha. Aaron is just too easy to buy for though and I could have spent a fair whack. I even eventually found Eddie Bauer – oh why did they leave the UK. But it was unsurprisingly full of winter stock and, as a man who carries a fair bit of personal insulation around with him; I didn’t find anything of interest. I generally hate shopping with a perfect hatred but Liz made me promise that I’d look for some stuff for my (apparently) ailing wardrobe. Amusingly, I gave her a call while in EB and she was on the web looking at the shop stock, directing me to items for consideration!
Then I thought I’d take a stroll up to a shop called REI that that dear lady on the plane had told me about. It’s an outdoor gear type place – kind of like Blacks – but on steroids! It’s massive and fully equipped with so much great gear. I found the shopper within me and I excelled! If you are ever in Seattle, you should do the Ducks and then do REI.
ITS THE BEST SHOOP EVER – PERIOD!
The shop opens till 9pm and it was dark by the time I headed out down John St for Dexter Av where my rather uninspiring hotel room is located. WHAT IS WRONG WITH JOHN STREET?
On the map, it looks like any other road – which I expected to bring me down the hill, back towards downtown and my hotel area. Not so. The street suddenly stopped at a car park – that happed to be at the top of a building! Okay, so we have a chap with a white stick and too many bags from REI standing in a completely dark car park in a foreign city thinking “oh”.
Needless to say, this is not the first sight-related situation I’ve found myself in on this trip – but its parr for the course and no blog would be long enough to mention them all – only the near death ones, lol! Have to say though, Seattle is not that good for VIPs (visually impaired people). For example, some of the “cross now” lights are white and some green – just like the lights next to them that tell the cars to go. In general though, cars are very considerate and one can usually follow somebody else.
(Sidebar: I just recognised Brian Adams, Summer of 69 playing on the radio within the first 2 notes – how sad is that?)
Anyway, back to the car park … I found some stairs that went down and down, darker and darker – you get the picture… but they stopped at a locked door. Long story short, I went back up the road a little, then across, then down the next one and am eating with all my body parts intact and a darn fine new pair of boots!
All in all, TOP DAY. Good fun, good exercise, good food.
Well, they’re closing up now and I feel like an extra from Cheers sitting here. More (hopefully work related) waffle to follow tomorrow.
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