Awake in Seattle
Friday, December 2nd, 2005He he he, I love this place – whilst it’s true that I usually end up loving every place at some point – there’s something about Seattle that I really like. Maybe it’s the hill or the proximity to the sea – perhaps Starbucks are pumping something into the air – whatever – it’s a plesant city – on a very human scale.
I’d been reading about the Harbour steps redevelopment, but the photos and maps really didn’t do it justice – I got so much out of seeing it up close and personal (this bodes well for the other buildings I think I know). The down town area is punctuated with various skyscrapers – Columbia tower being the tallest, but you don’t feel hemmed in by them – they just hang around getting on with business.
The Public library deserves reams, of wolly prose – but it’s early, so I’ll have to fill that bit in later – suffice to say that it’s a 10 storey building that looks like a bit of origami – made from steel diamonds and glass, you really need to see the photos to understand why I spent over an hour hanging out with it – it’s definitely on my list of favourite places. I mean it’s a library with neon pink sofas, flourescent yellow escalators and a quilted ceiling – it’s a great as a library and as a public space.
So, yeah Seattle’s lovely – the people are very friendly – although that’s probably got as much to do with my attitude as theirs – I prefer this side of me – so much more sociable. I met a guy from Chicago in Starbucks and we chatted about hockey, a corporate banker in the library and we swapped property (real estate) war stories – I even bumped into a member of the historical society – we argued the pros and cons building preservation, but it was hard to make any progress with him, his idea of ancient is anything built before 1890 – and there are precious few of those in the city – following the various fires and earthquakes.
I met a few backpackers from the UK – I made one of them cry when I whipped out a bar of chocolate – you should have seen her face when I unloaded my sack (of sweets) – we had an imprompu sugar fest in the kitchen and then retired to the Harbour steps for a hot whiskey at 1am – ok by retired, I mean I dragged them out through a rain soaked back alley to sit on the steps – It was good fun – they’re nice people and I’m trying to get them to come down to Portland with me this evening… we’ll see.
Ok, I really have to shoot off, I got up early to head over to Kerry park to try and catch the skyline before the lights dim too much – I might head off either on the underground tour or out into the bay… will see.
Last thing – photos from Thursday are a bit so-so, it was SNOWING!!!! apparently it hardly ever happens here – one of the girls in Starbucks nearly wet herself – she’s from Arizona and has never seen snow before – it didn’t hang around, but was pretty none the less, the low cloud kind of prevented me from getting any panoramic shots of the city though – ah well – it looks a bit clearer today… so fingers crossed, I should get some good stuff from the Seattle centre – but I really have to go now…
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