Seattle - Day 2

I could not resist, I had to go back to Pike Place to see a few more fish be thrown.   While walking through the Market we saw this “work of art”, the gum wall in Post Alley.                     This is listed as the 2nd most unsanitary attraction in the world, the first, the Blarney Stone.

We met Sam and Sue at the Market. We talked and talked for a couple of hours. It was like we already knew each other. Nice people!  We went down to Pioneer Square to take the Under Ground tour of Seattle. Seattle, after many years being at sea level and being subjected to the tides coming in and out and leaving the town in muck, was raised many feet up after a fired leveled the town. It took many years to complete the raising and during this time you had storefronts at street level while the sidewalks were 8 to 10 feet higher. The businesses needed to have 2 store fronts, one low and one high, and the lower one would eventually become the basement. This tour showed us how Seattle was raised and what life was like prior to the raising. Have you ever seen glass squares in sidewalks and wondered what they were for. I did and now I know. They are skylights! When the city was elevated, people continued to use the lower levels and needed light under the sidewalks.           On to the Space Needle.           Amazing views!              Lake Union   The Stadiums    

The Experience Music Project is a rock and roll museum. This was really fun. Not only did you see many instruments and a lot of history behind all types of music, but this is an interactive museum. You could play the drums and guitar etc and you could make a DVD of you being a rock and roll star in front of 200,000 people.

Next is the Science Fiction Museum which is the first museum devoted to paying tribute to the creators, writers, artists, publishers, and filmmakers of Sci-fi. Brought back memories of many shows I watched growing up and in fact I still say “warning, warning, Will Robinson” from Lost in Space” when something is happening that isn’t quite right. For those of you who don’t remember this robot would warn young Will Robinson when something bad was going to happen.

Seattle has a 1% rule. Whatever the cost of new construction is, 1% of that will need to go towards art. There is art of all types all over the city. These eyes are also chairs on the back side.        

This is a stainless steel tree and in the back ground you can see a red star like           sculpture

 

 

 

 

 

                     Of  course you have “working man” outside of the  Seattle Art Museum.         Not only do you have art all over the city but you have artists. There are street acts all over making there living playing.

On to the Lady Mary for a harbor cruise of Elliott Bay.   

We walked over the town and jumped on a tour bus to get more details of what we were seeing.

Seattle is known for the coffee, Starbucks being the most popular and my least favorite. Tulleys is their competitor and we stopped at the cutest little shop for a pick me up. We had an Americana which is a double espresso then the remainder of the cup is filled with water. Really good and smooth. Nice way to top off our day.