Things have been busy at work, between learning new areas of the
business, rebuilding my team and the constant travel to Seattle. So with year-end upon me, Martin flew up to
Seattle for the weekend to see my second office.
Martin landed late Thursday night, took the train to downtown and
managed to get lost on the three block walk to the hotel. He arrived after his journey through the city
around 11pm just as I arrived back from work.
Like I said, things have been busy.
While I worked on Friday, Martin made himself comfortable with the
hotel, hotel restaurant, hotel room service, mini bar and surrounding area (the
YMCA was just down the street)….By the time we met up for dinner later that
night my daily per diem for food was all but spent! So much for our budget, but I suppose
vacations are an allowable exception.
Martin met me at the office and we set off for Palace Kitchen, a
restaurant recommended by a few coworkers.
We walked the mile or two to the restaurant, finally catching up on our
week’s activities and then settled in for a nine course tasting of various
items on the menu. It was delicious and officially marked the transition from
work trip to vacation-mode.
We woke up later than normal Saturday morning, and refusing to eat breakfast
at the hotel, set off to explore the city and take in the sights. We intended to grab breakie along the way,
but didn’t find anything that was agreeable to both of us (either too
commercial, too empty, too cheap or some other combination of Goldilocks’s
plight) so we continued on our way to our first stop; a trip to the future…. We
took the Monorail to the Space Needle!
Spanning less than one mile or ten city blocks, the 5 minute ride was
over before we could begin wondering why the concept never caught on; I mean
between Disneyland and Seattle, it was bound to be the transportation of the
future…Unfortunately we were too busy talking about the Simpsons episode where
Homer drives the monorail…when in doubt Martin has a Simpsons episode to help
relate to American life.
We made it to the base of the Space Needle and gagged both at the price
to go to the top ($35? No thank you) and
the lack of food options nearby. Now
borderline hungry, we took a few photos and then set off in search of
food. We traced our route halfway back
to downtown to Bell Town for breakfast (now brunch) at Local 360, another recommendation
for coworkers. True to form, Martin
order granola and yogurt and a coffee (with at least 4 refills), I ordered
chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy topped with fried eggs and one coffee,
no refills.
With no other big plans for the day our waitress offered a few suggestions,
the first being the Gasworks park. She
seemed cool and edgy, so we were in. The
Gasworks Park is an old gas factory that has since been reclaimed and turned
into a city park. The old pipes, imposing
storage tanks and large machinery is still there, however the earth and ivy are
slowly reclaiming their land, covering the stark cold grey of metal and
structure with the jungle. It had the eerie feeling of both the old ruins of civilizations
past (Angor Wat) and the future of 12 Monkeys.
I loved it and just wished it was a warm sunny day to enjoy the views of
the Seattle city line rather than the drizzling windy winter day.
We continued our journey through the various neighborhoods, checking out
U District, Queen Ann, Fremont and Pioneer Square. It was in Pioneer Square that we got to know
the history of Seattle…we took the underground tour of Seattle which led us
under the streets and to the first floor of Seattle and the original sidewalks
of the city. For background, in order to
prevent flooding and save money in the process, Seattle raised the street level
up one story, thereby creating covered sidewalks one level below the new street
level… Wikipedia does a better job
explaining so if interested, check it out… for this blog’s purpose I found the
two hour tour informative about Seattle’s history as well as architecturally
interesting. Martin not so much, between
the moisture and strong smell of earth and sewer, it offended both his sense of
smell and good architecture/city planning.
We wrapped up our tour of the city with a few beers at a whiskey
bar/library and then headed off to the ‘burbs for dinner with Jo and
Marcus! As a side note, one of the
benefits of travelling to Seattle every month has allowed Jo and me to rekindle
our weekly (now monthly) happy hour tradition started back in San Francisco.
Martin’s visit to Seattle ended on Sunday with brunch at Café Campagne
and a required stroll through Pike’s Place Market. And while he headed off to the airport, I
went to a movie by myself because no one can judge you in the dark.
All in all, a great weekend and so great to share the city with him.
