Buckle up, buttercup....I took a LOT of photos today! We had breakfast at the apartment then set out on foot to explore. I had a laundry list of places to see....the streets are lovely here with lots of trees.
As you can see, it was a bit overcast. The forecast was for partly sunny skies and 67 degrees.....we walked down to the waterfront, very scenic. The warf itself was closed because we were a bit too early in the morning.
Some cool rather large sailboats tied up at the pier.
Just more city walking, very pleasant.
Good fun! The waterfront is very visitor friendly. Note the jacket....it was a bit breezy and a little chilly.
A nice elevated walkway.
More street scenes - note the hills....I hadn't thought about how hilly it would be!
We had to stop by the iconic Pike Place Market.
Not your run-of-the-mill farmer's market. This one is historical founded in 1907.
This is where you can witness the "fish throwers"....apparently they toss the fish around just to amuse the customers.
Amazing assortment of local fish.
The shops went on for what seemed like miles on more than one level.
Couldn't resist a photo of the Big Ass Lobster Tails! (I looked it up, lobsters aren't native in Seattle and are likely shipped from California or Florida/Bahamas).
Looking out at the waterfront from a little cafe inside the market.
Amazing fresh veggies.
Time to switch gears....a short walk to the Seattle Art Museum....some interesting stuff there! Fun to wander. This modern "sculpture" was about 10' tall and made of shiny rolled up pieces of basically plastic. It took someone a long time to make!
The photo doesn't do this one justice. This is hundreds of Slinky's attached to a very tall wall.
There was, of course, lots of paintings too.
This is by Salvador Dali. Not my cup of tea but on close inspection it's pretty cool.
And of course, lots of huge photos with partially clad women.....we spent the hour that we usually spend in a museum. By the hour mark, we've usually had enough.
Out for more walking....several nice colorful paintings on the sides of buildings.
We caught a shuttle at one point to take us over to the Seattle Sculpture Garden. Interesting but not overwhelming.
And close by was the Space Needle. Had to ride to the top, of course. Was hoping it would be sunny by then, but the weather didn't cooperate.
Huge sculpture on the Space Needle grounds.
After a brief wait for the 520' elevator, we were at the top enjoying the view.
We got a couple of local beers and enjoyed them both at the top floor and the next floor down that rotates slowly.
Looking straight down, notice the spiders and their shadows that are painted on a huge rooftop.
There were a couple of places where you could take "automatic" selfies controlled by a screen on your cell phone. We look a little odd but it was good fun.
This one took the photo on a blank background and the program let you choose the "staged" background...
But this one had the actual photo of the real-time cityscape.
After the Space Needle, we went to the Armory and had a quick lunch. Then on to the IMAX theater for 2 short movies, one about the James Web Space Telescope and the other about the Chihuly glass. When we got out of the theater, the sky was beautifully sunny.
Next and pretty much final stop for the day was the nearby Chihuly Garden and Glass. I actually wasn't thinking this was going to be all that interesting but it was part of a combo ticket I had purchased. I really did enjoy the tour. I'd never heard of the artist - Dale Chihuly. But it really was pretty cool and astonishing how many pieces were on display. I'll include a bunch of photos you can page thru.
So glad the sun came out for you, that doesn't always happen. Have been a fan of Chihuly since 92. Used to take a little J22 sailboat by his shop on my way to racing on occasion.
ReplyDelete