Today was our first day in Seattle and we walked so much that it was almost our last!
When I design my itineraries I always start with what I want to see most, so that if anything happens or I run out of time by the end of the trip, I won’t feel too bad about whatever’s left out. This time around we really wanted to see the Seattle Public Library downtown, a gorgeous prismatic glass building that I only saw from the outside last time I visited, so that was our first stop.
The building features a striking design from the outside, all sharp corners and straight edges softened by trees planted along the sidewalk. It is of course a busy, functioning library, so the entrance from the ground floor or all business and rather unassuming; but we knew to go up to the 10th floor to see the reading room, a futuristic glass-domed atrium with amazing views of the skyscrapers around the area.
We then went down to the third floor, which -because the Seattle downtown is all on a steep incline- also exits out to the street, to find another beautiful open space with a little shop. Here I was able to identify the exact spot Cate Blanchett stood on in the movie “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?”.
Next up, we walked a couple of blocks over to the Seattle Art Museum. Last time I visited I distinctly remember feeling disappointed by it, especially in contrast with the Portland Art Museum, which I found much more appealing. This time, since the Portland one was closed, I was better predisposed towards the Seattle one, although I do affirm the $30 ticket for a two-floor museum is highway robbery!
My guidebook used the word “scattered” to describe the collection, and now I understand why. They have a few native artefacts, some Australian aboriginal art, European religious paintings, contemporary pieces, a room full of porcelain cups and plates, gold jewelry from Ghana, a gallery of Japanese kimonos and scrolls… An interesting collection, certainly, but having a little bit of everything stops it from having an overarching vision to give the museum its own identity.
One cool thing though: the temporary exhibit was dedicated to Calder’s moving sculptures and they had a lot of beautiful works!
We also checked out the museum store. I didn’t buy anything, instead heading over to 8th Generation across the street, a Native American-owned store that sells items by native artists and got myself a cool bee-shaped enamel pin.
By this time it was just about lunchtime, which was not great timing: I have a million restaurants saved on my phone but we were smack-dab in the middle of Pike Place, the most touristy spot in the city, so the only restaurant nearby that wasn’t packed to the rafters was a passable fish & chips joint.
After lunch, we checked out Pike Place Market, Seattle’s most famous attraction, seen in movies like Sleepless in Seattle. The top floor is dedicated to fresh produce, while the lower levels host a ton of various souvenir stores. It’s super crowded and extremely touristy, so a cursory walk just to be able to say you’ve seen it is more than enough. There are so many more interesting places to spend your energy on!
We even stopped by the Paramount Theater to ask about tickets to Funny Girl, in case they had any that were cheaper and/or better than what they showed online, but they did not. We considered coming back tomorrow for day tickets, before the show, but in fact I was able to find way better tickets online so I got those instead! A rare occasion where visiting the in-person box office does not pay off, unlike in Chicago.
By this point we were already well and truly exhausted, but it was barely 3PM so it felt like such a waste to already go back to our apartment. Here’s where staying at a central hotel would come in handy: we would be able to go back to our rooms, put our feet up, and then come out later to do something else. Staying in Eastlake, it takes too long to come and go and everything here closes at 5PM anyway, so once we go back we’re not likely to go back out.
In the end, we split the difference by making a pit stop at Victrola Coffee Roasters, a coffee shop I saw recommended -the kind of independent, local establishment that I love visiting when I’m traveling, where I had a delicious green tea and a cookie.
Then we took a short walk up Pine Street towards Capitol Hill, a commercial corridor together with Pike Street. My only saved item there was Elliott Bay Book Company, a wonderful bookstore that we fell in love with as soon as we set foot inside. It’s all wood, millions of books all on display, lots of people milling about… It’s one of those bookstores where you can tell someone curated the books on display (many had handwritten notes explaining why) as opposed to the soulless, PR-churned selection in big-chain stores. Because we’d had our share of book browsing back at Powell’s we browsed only around the new arrivals and staff selection areas, but we could have easily spent another hour there.
This was, finally, enough to say we’d made something out of our afternoon, so we called it a day and went back to our apartment for a well-deserved rest. Tomorrow we’re off to the Seattle Center!
This Is A Lake 