Had guests this weekend, Sean and Jessica, Sean lived next door to M in SA when they were younger. He now lives in Florida and for some reason decided that a trip to Seattle in March would be nice. Seattle duly obliged and gave us sunny days with highs in the 60s, the day BEFORE they arrived, before settling down to rain, wind, rain and driving rain.
So we still had to find things to do. Friday we had some Happy Hour stuff around Belltown which was nice, followed by finding an excellent Italian just over the road from the apartment, not necessarily a good thing. Then back home and we chatted into the wee small hours. Saturday dawned dull and grey and the plan was to do the Underground tour and a seaplane ride. We cancelled the Seaplane ride on account of the wind and driving rain, then did the Underground tour which was... odd...
Seattle wasn't exactly well planned and nor, it would seem, all that well run. Having been burnt to the ground in a fire, the city leaders rebuilt pretty much on the same level and blocks, ignoring that they were on a tide flat. A few years later, the city council decided to build new roads but built them 8 to 35 FEET above the level of the existing store fronts and pavements. For sometime thereafter there were roads significantly above the pavement. So eventually the pavements were raised and the buildings moved their operations to their 2nd Floor (in US speak). The tour was moderately entertaining but at 90 minutes a tad over long. I did buy the book on the History of Seattle (Sons of the Profits) and am working my way through.
Saturday was a quiet evening in. Sunday we gave a tour of the vicinity including a trip to see the Fremont Troll.
Monday I flew to Dallas, in Dallas today for meetings, then off to Raleigh North Carolina tomorrow, and back to Seattle on Friday morning.
We have driving tests next week and finally we can get a car.
So we still had to find things to do. Friday we had some Happy Hour stuff around Belltown which was nice, followed by finding an excellent Italian just over the road from the apartment, not necessarily a good thing. Then back home and we chatted into the wee small hours. Saturday dawned dull and grey and the plan was to do the Underground tour and a seaplane ride. We cancelled the Seaplane ride on account of the wind and driving rain, then did the Underground tour which was... odd...
Seattle wasn't exactly well planned and nor, it would seem, all that well run. Having been burnt to the ground in a fire, the city leaders rebuilt pretty much on the same level and blocks, ignoring that they were on a tide flat. A few years later, the city council decided to build new roads but built them 8 to 35 FEET above the level of the existing store fronts and pavements. For sometime thereafter there were roads significantly above the pavement. So eventually the pavements were raised and the buildings moved their operations to their 2nd Floor (in US speak). The tour was moderately entertaining but at 90 minutes a tad over long. I did buy the book on the History of Seattle (Sons of the Profits) and am working my way through.
Saturday was a quiet evening in. Sunday we gave a tour of the vicinity including a trip to see the Fremont Troll.
Monday I flew to Dallas, in Dallas today for meetings, then off to Raleigh North Carolina tomorrow, and back to Seattle on Friday morning.
We have driving tests next week and finally we can get a car.