out something that you could see out your window. In the case, it was Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier. Colleen lucked out and was on the right side of the plane (the right side being the left.) Wow! Colleen took some pictures that hopefully can do it justice. Colleen is surrounded by the Rockies but Mount Rainier was much more impressive. Perhaps because when you look at it, you're starting from sea level instead of 5,280 or higher?When Colleen touched down in Seattle she knew something was up when she had four voicemails (she had a small inclination when Jon didn't answer the phone when he should have been in Chicago on his layover). Yup - his first flight was so delayed he missed the scheduled connection and so wasn't due in to Seattle until 2. Although he expected to be able to make the 5 pm already paid for Underground Tour, that still meant either a 5 hour wait in the airport for Colleen, or trying to get through town on her own. Fortunately, Jon gave really good directions, and, with the exception of getting lost trying to find the metrorail station from the light rail station (she realized later she could have taken two elevators inside rather than going outside, and eventually through Nordstrom's), all was good from shuttle bus to light rail to monorail to walking to the hotel.
Just like Denver, no one ever checked to see Colleen had a valid light rail ticket or pre-paid card (she went with the one way ticket until she read on board about this ORCA card thing.) You were supposed to tap it on one of these machines that you would have had no idea what they were had you not read about them in the on-board literature, and even then you couldn't find them, both before you got on, and when you got off. Colleen did this, but she never saw anyone else do it. Perhaps this was because it's a new system (only a month old) and no one know how it works... or... the fact they don't have a turnstyle to keep you honest like in Boston, NYC, DC, Chicago and San Fran.
The monorail had its own ticket booth and turnstyle, so had you wanted to get away with not paying the $2 one-way fee, you couldn't do it there. The ride itself was very cool because you were elevated. Two minutes from the downtown Westlake shopping center to the Seattle Center, where the Space Needle is located. Colleen was very surprised to see a rinky dink
amusement park featuring a log ride that no one ever seemed to be riding at the monorail stop, next to the Space Needle. She also saw the joint space for the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and Museum and the Experience Music Project, which was to your left as you walked to the hotel, on the same side as the monorail.As advertised, the hotel was two blocks from the Space Needle.
It would have been a straight shot if you didn't have buildings in the way. As it was, you had to go on some diagonal streets, but again, Jon's directions were great and the tour book that came with their Go Seattle cards (providing "free" admission to things for Tuesday and Wednesday) filled in the blanks.Lucky for Colleen, even though it was early for check in, they had a room
ready. What a great view outside our window!instructions had said to go away from the water so she went first down the hill by the station (who knew Seattle was like San Francisco?) then back up, then around the block,Colleen was trying to make a 2 pm free historical tour in Pioneer Square so she soon got back on the monorail, grabbed Sbarro at Westlake (the Syracuse self-imposed sabattical being over) and then took the light rail to Pioneer Square. Colleen thought Jon's then back the other way, ending up across from Qwest Field
and in Chinatown (the light rail station stop BEYOND Pioneer Square) before she realized she was in the wrong place... and in the hood. The problem: a.) the streets were kitty corner to eachother and picked up and left off in different places (so much for the block system alleged in the Go Seattle card guidebook) and b.) Jon had the AAA book that had the bigger map and all the specific addresses and phone numbers (Colleen and Jon decided they didn't BOTH need to bring the book.)When Colleen got to the information center indicated on the map, it was a kiosk. An unmanned kiosk. Some signage indicated you could get a map for a walking tour at area businesses but wasn't specific. So Colleen decided rather than continue to meander around aimlessly
like she had for the last 45 minutes, to find the location for the Underground Tour (she had an address for that in a book she picked up the hotel.) So she went to do that... and again ended up at Qwest Field. This time in the gift shop. The very nice people there said this "happens all the time," the problem being that 1st Street splits into regular 1st Street and South 1st Street, so when Colleen was following numbers going up, she should have gone the other way, and waited for the numbers to go down and THEN up. (A second look at the guidebook showed it actually said, "MOST streets are laid out in a grid system" (Colleen's emphasis).)
Now that Colleen was down at Qwest Field, she decided to just stay down there and take
pictures and walk to adjacent Safeco Field. This seemed like a good idea until when the bridge across the street took her down on the side of the highway and UNDER the bridge ... in the hood.With time still to kill, Colleen went back toward Chinatown and went into Union Station to rest
(another thing about this city: there are no benches to sit - perhaps to keep away the homeless people?) Around 4:15 she once again went to find the Underground Tour and this time was successful. All checked in, she went down by the water but that particular pier was a ferry stop so there wasn't too much to see. So it was back to the Underground Tour, where Jon arrived at 4:45!The Underground Tour was great. Colleen and Jon learned Seattle, originally called "Duwamps," then renamed after the city struck a deal with Chief Seattle
(pron.: Seailth - one syllable) was a story lower than it is currently. They had all kinds of sewage problems being right on the water so after John Back's pot of
glue started the fire leveled the city in 1889 (fire hoses weren't hooked up, and some people were setting off explosives elsewhere, which were just some of the problems they had on top of the fire), they decided to start over. Rich, our tour guide, took us in a couple buildings where we were in the basement, which used to be the ground level. All very cool!Rich said for food we could check out anything along the waterfront, which ranged from fast food like seafood (they love their prawns) to $20 seafood dishes. Colleen and Jon ended up going to The Fisherman's Restaurant on Pier 57, which apparently was featured on the Food Network's "Unwrapped." It had a nice view, but the food was disappointing (the bread was tasteless and the Mahi Mahi was dry on both ends and featured not-as-good-as-the-white brown meat.)
Colleen noticed the restaurant was on University Street, which was the first light rail stop after Westlake (before Pioneer Square), so Colleen and Jon hiked up yet another hill to get to that station rather than hike back to Pioneer Square. The stop was right next to the Seattle Art Museum and outside, Jon and Colleen saw what can only be described as an interpretive tai chi exercise.
After that, it was back to the hotel with the hot elevator and upstairs hallway. Apparently they don't believe (don't have?) air conditioning!
Underground Tour: A
The Fisherman's Restaurant: C
No comments:
Post a Comment