Wednesday 2 July 2014

Seattle

Last night we collected the car from Sergio, moved to a Motel near Fremont & this morning it's time to deliver my bike to Vallantine Motor Works http://www.vallantinemotorworks.com/ to have the gearbox output bearings replaced.
Fremont is a neigherhood of Seattle on the edge of Lake Union & a very attractive & interesting place with it's with many older houses.



It is also home for the 'Fremont Troll' that lurks under Aurora Bridge!



Along the shore of Lake Union are some stunning boathouses.



You also get great views of the Seattle skyline as well as the 'Space Needle' built in 1962 for the Worlds Fair.




Another Brewery! one of three in the district & we sample their wares, John can't decide which one to try!



Fremont is also home for 'Waiting For The Interurban', the dog behind has the face of the Mayor at the time who dithered over bring the railway to town, now the locals leave messages on the cast aluminium figures.



There is also several other unusual statues in this free-spirited area of Seattle including 'The Guidepost', 'The Rocket' & Lenin? We also find a Curry house with good Nan bread.



Now it's into Seattle itself via the 'RapidRide' bus to Pioneer Square with an Underground tour of the old town which burnt down in 1889 destroying the entire central business district, unusually they built the replacement city on top!
Ironically no one was killed in the fire but 14 people died falling off the elevated sidewalks!!



Next is Pike Place Market but just before a visit to Pike Brewery is in order, the beer memorabilia in this place is fantastic & the beer ain't bad.



I sample 6 of their beers with the Stout being particularly good, where did it all go!



The Public market itself is the usual mixture of colour, crafts, food & curiosities & a great place to spend a couple of hours.

It's also famous for the fish stalls where the traders shout commands & throw the fresh fish around to each other, if you look closely you can see a Sockeye Salmon in mid flight!



Fresh flowers always make colourful pictures as well as typical US neon signs.




Following a short Monorail trip we visit the 'City Centre' with the Space Tower and EMP Museum of Sci-Fi, Rock & Pop Music.





We only have a couple of hours here and again could have done with more, one exhibit is a sculpture made out of guitars that actually plays, very colourful.



As most of you will know this City was the home of Jimi Hendrix so a section of the Museum is dedicated to him along with Nirvana their other famous offspring. 
Although I was lucky enough to see Jimi live twice it would have been great to see him at a small venue in Hounslow!!



We ride the 520ft to the observation deck of the Space Needle for a great view of the City, Mount Rainier is shrouded in cloud but we will be closer to it over the next couple of days.



The interactive display at the tower aslo makes a interesting shot.









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