Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Moore Hotel (2nd Virginia) is the cheapest hotel, $50+ for a person, $60+ for two (for the cheapest rates, with bathroom down the hall; there are rooms with bathrooms too at higher rates). There is usually vacancies, I saw a lot of walk-ins when I was there. The owner does not depend on the profits for survival, that's why it's so cheap. And it's only 2 blocks from Pike Place Market. Remember to say hi to my friend Bob (short for Robert). Skinny guy with green eyes and green tongue ring. He can provide you with lots of info, esp. where to find nice and reasonably-priced food. ;) I hope he's still there though, he's been acting weird online lately hahaha.
When you're at the Pike Place Market (pikeplacemarket.org), check out its free newsletter (looks just like a thin newspaper) - can be found at the half-price ticket booth right beside the junction near the market signboard, shows the stuff going on at the Market, which you may be able to participate in. Look at the booth for discounted tickets to performances. I really like the Theatre Sports (at Post Alley) where a group of theatre lovers work with and compete against each other in improvisation. They come up with unrehearsed short acts from themes suggested by the audience. The best suggestions, which leads to the best acts, stand to win great prizes from the theatre group. If you haven't seen improvisation before, you'll be surprised at what they can come up with and the onstage chemistry they have with each other. The world's first Starbucks store is right across the street from the market, very crowded. But there's lots of coffee stores around, and better ones too.
Seattle Symphony performs at Benaroya Hall (2nd Ave). Join the Campus Club to get $10 tickets for seats of any category. Managed to catch a Gershwin concert when I was there, and I chose a seat which supposedly has one of the best acoustics. The hall has 3 or 4 tiers, I was on the 1st tier, a distance away from the stage. Lots of old people attended it, I might've been one of the youngest there. Took some pictures before the concert started. Seattle Art Museum (beside Benaroya Hall
Pioneer Street has many small art galleries and interesting shops along both sides of the street. The Underground Tour is very popular and the tour guides are super humorous. Free beer after the tour. Seattle Seahawks is a champion football team. Really popular among its people. Their football stadium (Qwest Field) and Mariners' softball stadium (Safeco Field) are right beside each other in International district. Chinatown is nearby and there is a huge Japanese supermarket there. Seattle Public Library has very cool architecture, supposed to be state-of-the-art. The upper floors are connected with a spiral ramp. The shopping area around 3rd-5th Ave is like another other shopping place. Food there can be quite pricey. I wanted to take a photo of the interior of Westlake Center, but was stopped by a security. There is a Chinese bistro bar which has pretty nice food.
Seattle's well known for its distinct neighbourhoods. Belltown (part of downtown, along Waterfront) has some eating places with rock gigs and other gigs in the evening. There's a famous authentic Mexican restaurant there. :) You can even visit University of Washington at University district if you want to, lots of greenery there. University Street's crowded with students. Fremont is a neighbourhood where being cool rules. Check out their huge troll (it's like a mini playground, you can literally climb up, sit on its shoulders and slide down) and statue of Lenin. There is a spot where they call it 'center of the universe' and they have a sign erected there, pointing to other countries in different directions. A famous artist even made an Oktoberfest Troll for the Oktoberfest held there last year.
In Ballard resides mostly Scandinavian people. Scandinavian means Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland. They have very rich culture. I went into a famous gift shop (though I didn't know it was famous) called Scandinavian Gift Shop, and the lady there told me lots about Norwegian (she's from Norway) stuff and showed me photos of their many different types of costumes. May 17 is Norway's Constitution Day and there'll be a parade where everyone wears their region costumes. If you're interested, visit the Heritage Nordic Museum (www.nordicmuseum.org). Closes at 4, some special exhibits may require an admission surcharge. On my way to The Locks, I joined 3 homeless people (didn't know they were homeless until later) who were playing cards by the roadside. They're really friendly and apparently famous, people who walk past would greet them and chat a bit.
The Locks is where you can find the Puget Sound Chinook Salmon. Depending on the time of the year, you may be able to catch salmon literally jumping upstream. Sometimes you can catch them flipping out of the water as well. The people built steps along their upstream path to make it easier for them to swim. I wonder how they feel swimming against the water flow, and getting pushed back regularly. Interestingly, on a bus to Fremont, 2 graduate students on attachment sat behind me. The familiar Singlish made me approach them. I just had to confirm my suspicions. Indeed, one was Singaporean and the other Indonesian, both from NTU. Their attachment was paid and Mount Rainier was part of the package. And they're there for only a few weeks. I'm so jealous!
I wanted to take the monorail which commutes between Seattle Center and downtown (Westlake Center) in minutes, but it broke down again after renovations and reopening. Should be up and running by now, hopefully. Experience Music Project (EMP for short) cum Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (SFM for short) is a suave-looking silver-red-blue building. EMP has special exhibitions on American music throughout the ages, a sound lab where you can try out different instruments and even record your own CD for a fee, and a pretty good bar and grill place (watch for Happy Hour). No time for SFM haha. I heard Pacific Science Center is nice, not sure what it has though. Seattle Needle's just like any other tallest-structure-to-watch-the-city-from-the-top attraction, but it looks cool anyway. It looks cooler than other such attractions in other cities in fact. Check out the other stuff at the Seattle Center too! Key Arena is the Sonics' basketball stadium. The Pacific Science Center and Seattle Needle looks beautiful at night with the lights and all.
Kerry Park (on lower Queen Anne Hill) is a good place to jog, rich people living around there jog even when it's raining. Good place to get postcard-worthy pictures, in day or night. Good camera required. Seattle's quite cloudy and rainy, so some patience is required as well. The 2 pictures shown were taken on different days. Waited for the sky to turn dark and took many photos in between before capturing the 2nd one. Still not good enough though.
Museum of Flight, I heard from tourists, is really worth the money, but it's kinda far from downtown and I'm not sure how to go there. It's near Boeing field and has full-size airplanes suspended as if in flight. Sounds magnificent. I passed by the place when taking the airport express to downtown. Snoqualmine Falls is 1.5h (2 bus rides) from downtown. Nice waterfall, you can even hike down to the bottom of the waterfall. Can you imagine jumping down from this height? Nothing compared to Niagara Falls though. The lodge there has very nice interior and super expensive food. Mount Rainier looks beautiful in pictures, but it's expensive. The 2nd picture shows Mount Rainier in the distance, blending with sunset lights.
