The Journey continues..
We took the Amtrak down to Seattle at 6am (ouch!) If your a tourist heading down, you need to fill in a form at the train station. There's usually some nice officers with flower pens in a flower pot (don't ask) that are able to help you out. It is a tad confusing. From there you are processed through customs and your bags are checked. We cross the Canada border into the US hence the checks, the entire journey took around 3 hours. The train also stops at the border while police and sniffer dogs get on to check your passport and that paper you filled in. There was some lovely views out of the window. I ate my first Cinnamon Roll, it was pure heaven in a bun. The hours flew by.
Once we hit Seattle we got a taxi to our first Airbnb. The cab was terrifying. The car itself was on its last legs, I really wouldn't have been surprised if the brakes suddenly stopped working. I stupidly listened to a lot of serial killer podcasts before we left (the majority of which had taken place in Seattle) so as I fixated my stare at the taxi's ceiling I nearly had a heart attack. There was a beautiful red stain splattered just above my head, with what looked like biscuit crumbs around it. It looked like someone had been shot and their face had ended up on the carpeted roof. I was sure the guy was going to stop off in the middle of no where and shoot us both. It was a lovely 'Welcome To Seattle' moment that I will treasure forever. I wish I got a photo of this stain but of course I was frozen in that seat of death so the thought never occurred to me.
LUCKILY our driver wasn't in the killing mood and we arrived at out destination intact.
Our Airbnb was amazing. It was a cozy loft apartment sat above the owners home. Out the window you could clearly see Lake Union. It was so well equipped, it even had a yoga room! The owner was so lovely too, I highly recommend staying here. Here's a lil illustration I created:
You can check out the place HERE.
Peeking through the telescope you can spot the boat house from the film Sleepless In Seattle!
This was taken further down from the apartment on the way to the grocery shop. I would have loved to stay in one of these!
On the second day we walked into the city. The walk from the apartment to the Space Needle was about 3.5 miles. We got tickets for the EMP Museum which was just around the corner. I definitely recommend going here! Theres so many exhibition to see.
We bought tickets for the Star Trek Exhibition that was on for a couple more days. They had so many bizzare costumes and props, and an interactive bit at the end where you could video yourself teleporting!
The Museum itself was divided into sections. There was a Fantasy section (a big collection of The Princess Bride props) and a Science Fiction section next door (spot the Back To The Future hoverboard). There was also a Horror section which had a cool interactive screen to make yourself into a monster.
There was also a Indie Game section near the Hello Kitty sculpture. You can try out some great looking games that had just come on the market. My favourite was the sex education game. The screen panned to a little girl and you had to click on her Barbie and Ken dolls and make them have sex. I watched a bunch of kids go crazy for this game, it was so funny! You can watch someone playing the game HERE.
There was also The Nirvana exhibition which was my partner's favourite. I don't want to post too many photos just incase theres someone planning on visiting and not wanting any spoilers, but you could easily spend a whole day in this place. It so interactive!
Here's a handy tip - don't go up the Space Needle. The ques are CRAZY! We arrived on an early but the que was coming out the door. Its also quite expensive.
What you should do is this -
Get on the tram that sits outside the EMP museum and head towards the Columbia Centre building. Buy a ticket from the 4th floor (only $15 each, nearly $10 cheaper than Space Needle) and head up the lift to the Sky View Observatory .
The views are breath taking. You can see a clear view of all the landmarks, with no ques what so ever, it was so quiet. There's a cafe up there and some comfy couches to sit and unwind. I even saw a guy use this place as a temporary office!
After a few hours gazing at the views and having a bite to eat, we headed to Seattle's Pike Place Saturday Market. We arrive just as the market was setting up, but it was still pretty busy with tourists.
There were so many gorgeous flowers all over the place.
I overheard that the non-food market only allows items to be sold that are produced in Seattle. I don't know if this is true but its a smart idea, this is a great place to buy souvenirs. Some of the sellers even ship back home.
I loved all the neon signs hung up around the food and flower market, there was so much to look at and many different things to try.
We stopped by a Cafe in the heart of the market. Adam ordered his brew, it came in this really bizarre light bulb tea pot. I ordered a cinnamon bun that was bigger than my head. I ate it all. After stuffing ourselves silly, our feet begged us to head back to the apartment so we did.
I actually had a reservation to eat at The Pink Door but could only get 9pm. We sacked it off, but I do recommend you to check it out. It's a nice seafood type restaurant that has some interesting entertainment each night. One of the nights they have a trapeze artist on a swing, flying above your head.
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