Seattle

Again as late as ever these travel posts have become. Ah well. In April Ben and I flew to Seattle for a few days, just because we could and I had never been before. Of course it rained, but we were expecting that and all in all it was a great trip. We visited friends, met a new baby and ate glorious amounts of food. Oh and we checked out some sights too.
A great way to get out of the Seattle rain, at least for a little while, is to take a tour of the Seattle Underground. Seattle was originally built on a flood plain, which of course caused issues with flooding and sewage disposal. Later there was a fire that leveled most of downtown (that happens when a paint shop is next door to a furniture maker which is above a general store that supplies bullets...and dynamite). The city planners had decided that this would a good time to try and grade the city and build above the flood plain. Unfortunately, shopkeepers and already begun building again so instead of tearing everything down the city just built the streets higher, at the second or third story level. Shopkeeper had to make do and eventually the shops moved their wares to the upper stories and eventually the lower level was blocked and and forgotten for years. Then in the 60s they were rediscovered and a movement was made to try and preserve this part of Seattle's history. Now shops are discovering lost basements and renovating to use that space.

On part of the above ground portion of the Seattle Underground Tour

After walking around Seattle to Pike Place and then up to the Columbia Center for the highest view in the city it was time to get out of the rain again. The Experience Music Project (EMP) Museum was super fun and had great exhibits.

My friend Tina Gower should be part of this exhibit some day

Our friend took us on a drive around the northern parts of Seattle at nights and we met some interesting characters:

Who dares walk over my bridge!?

While I knew the bar/pub scene would be lively in Seattle I didn't realize that we' be walking down UK memory lane after walking into a tiny English pub that only had a handful of beers on tap and mead and then stumbling down to an Irish pub with live music:

Galway Girl and a shephard's pie

And then on our last day, we finally saw the most elusive sighting in Seattle while eating a delicious brunch of lemon curd french toast smothered in fresh berries:

 A little bit of blue sky!