Sleepless in Seattle
Posted: June 19, 2009
Filed under: Adventures, Art, Culture, Food, Misc, Out on the Town, Travel
Tagged: Pike Place, puget sound, sailing, sculpture park, Seattle, space needle, Washington
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Description
I was in Seattle this weekend enjoying a nice cup of coffee and beautiful views of the Puget Sound. Nemanja and I arrived in the Pacific northwest Thursday night to some great weather and a lovely backdrop while heading into the city. Coming from LA its a mere 2 1/2 hour flight, just long enough to be stuck with a morsel of pretzels and a splash of coke. Airlines are tightening up when they don’t even give you a can anymore. The first thing any person visiting a new town does is visit a local watering hole. We decided to visit the Elephant and Castle British pub attached to the Red Lion Hotel with a great outdoor seating area for late night happy hour. We mowed down $5 appetizers and local Amber Ale’s for some well needed fulfillment. Afterward we hoped on over to the Tap House Grill, which seems to be a fancy word for restaurant with after-hours lounge drinking in Seattle. Gazing upon the sight of the 160+ beers offered along a giant wall I was able to find a classic favorite from my time in San Francisco, Racer 5 IPA (7.0%ABV), and it was like I was back home in a fuzzy cloud of nostalgia or maybe that was my buzz kicking’ in.
Pike Place Market - Seattle, WA
On our first full day we went to of course the famous Pike Place market where there are hundreds of vendors selling anything from fish and flowers to wooden sculptures and toys. They have it all here. Along the way you see fresh produce with vendors cutting apples to taste with a knife, guys throwing fish, and people smelling the abundance of flowers. Tucked away in this heap of shops and vendors is Uli’s Sausage, where they sell and serve some of the best German sausages in the northwest. Instead of a traditional breakfast we went with a nice German helping of Märtzen Beer and Sausage in the morning to fuel our long journey through Seattle. I chose a nice Sicilian Bratwurst while Nemanja went with a German Andouille Bratwurst and we topped it off with some Belgian Fries and Potato Salad.
Once fueled up we decided to stop by the original Starbucks that has spread like the black plague on this country. Its been basically retrofitted to look like the 1000′s of other stores in the country. The only cool thing is their was a band playing outside with a banjo and violin in hand. Just like the locals we went to a small coffee shop just to stick it to the bigwigs and walked to Seattle’s famous Sculpture Park along the north waterfront on the way to the Seattle Center. The park has some really intriguing pieces of art literally just placed along a walk/bike path that truly make you go “hmm…that’s cool”. Located inside the park is Bill and Linda Gates amphitheater where the school children gather around to what I’m sure is a boring lecture on why the park was built.
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