Abroad,  Puget Sound,  Seattle,  Washington

Seattle – 24 July 2008

July 24, 2008 /

Our second day in Seattle started with a trip to Pike Place Market.  We rode the monorail, and then walked a couple of blocks to reach the market.  On our walk we stopped off at Lush; Kat loves this store, so we decided to check it out.

We stopped to get some coffee to give us some pep.  Recharged, we started exploring the shops.  We found a great shop called Little Shanghai, and I got a fantastic jacket.  We continued to wander and shop.  Just beyond Pike Place Market is Victor Steinbrueck Park, which overlooks Puget Sound.  Joey took some pictures of the totem pole that is in the park, and we relaxed and watched the ferries on the sound.

After our stop in the park, we dove into Pike Place Market proper.  There are so many stalls filled with so much stuff!  Clothes, jewelry, crafts of all kinds, fish, meat, veggies and flowers are all in this tiny space with about 9000 people!  Joey had a great time taking pictures of everything.  I found t-shirts to take to our nephew and godchildren as souvenirs.

Suddenly we realized we were pretty hungry.  We decided to get some food we could eat on the go.  We stumbled upon a great place called Piroshky! Piroshky! Earlier in the day, we had actually seen one of the employees making the piroshky – lovely and fresh!  We each had a couple of Piroshky, all different flavors so we could try lots of variety.  I recommend this wonderful little bakery to anyone looking for a tasty and filling treat on the go!

After eating we continued our exploration of the market area.  We made a shopping stop at the big Macy’s near the monorail station before returning to the Seattle Center.

After we were back at the Seattle Center, we went to the SciFi Museum.  No pictures were allowed in the museum, but Joey assembled a collage of photos he found online that sum up our experience.  We saw tons of great stuff: model of the death star, R2D2, B-9, Gort, the phaser from Galaxy Quest, Cat’s costume from Red Dwarf, a Klingon Bat’leth, and so much more!  The first part of the museum was organized around SciFi literature, and authors.  It was really awesome to see descriptions of the books and what innovations those books and authors are responsible for.

Joey was disturbed by my reaction to the death star display.  We walked up to a scale model of the death star – it was about as high as my shoulders – which was enclosed in a glass box.  Outside the box, but clearly connected to the Death Star was an unlabeled big-red-button.  Joey said, “I wonder who would push a red button that is connected to a Death Star; that seems like a bad idea.”  Before he had even finished talking I reached out and pushed the button.  Happily, the button did not cause the Death Star to destroy the planet, but rather turned on an automated explanation of the model.

Since the hotel staff had made such a good recommendation the previous evening, we took another of their suggestions and tried a restaurant called Bahn Thai about a block from our hotel.  Fantastic!  It was a wonderful atmosphere, and delicious food.  We finished off the evening with a stop at McMenamins Queen Anne for dessert and a nightcap.


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