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Thursday July 21

Woke up after ten good hours sleep: flicking through the TV channels: I came across Fox News, to find that there had been another spate of attempted bombings in London.

I tore myself away from the TV, and decided to head out into the city. On the corner of the street where the hotel was, stood a Starbucks: and I was in Seattle, it had to be done, really. I asked the woman behind the counter where to head to first. In fact she talked to me, apart from asking what I wanted, this English accent is great. Anyway, she said Pike Street Market was the place to go: and that’s where I headed.

Pike Street Market is a throwback to the early days of the city: it looks like it was converted from old warehouses, and has imposing views across the Puget Sound. Inside, it has bare wooden floorboards, worn smooth by years of use. The most famous place in the market is the fish stall. It’s an imposing place, every kind of fruit de la mare on display.

And when someone buys something, the assistants form a chain; throw the fish from one to another, whilst singing. It really is quite good. It always has a large crowd gathered around it, waiting for the fish throwing to begin. Such a shame that most tourists don’t venture further in, as it is a veritable warren of small independently owned shops spread over four floors. The floor level has fresh produce, not just fish, but meat, fruit and vegetables: all of it looking better than we get here.

I explored the rest of the market: there were the usual mix of gift stores, head shops, antique shops and right at the bottom, a brilliant record store. A ten inch copy of Black Market Clash caught my eye. I put it at the back of the rack, so no one else would see it.

Cheeky me. Back outside, I saw there was a place to eat above the market. Finding the stairs, I discovered it was owned by a family of Bolivians. A salad with spicy peanut sauce caught my eye, so I sat down, and looked down at the world. Across the roof of the market, way across the Sound, snow-capped mountains glinted in the sunshine.

From one of the fruit stalls, I bought some sweet fresh figs, and set off to discover the rest of the city. Down past the market, there were a set of steep stairs leading down to the waterfront: I headed down. To get to the waterside, I had to cross a main road, and before that, a tram line.

Vintage cream and green coloured trams ran up and down the harbour. All along the waterfront, a myriad of bars and restaurants mixed with piers and docks. Various companies offering trips around the sound, or longer ones to see more whales: this time Orcas. I think it’s politically incorrect to all them Killer Whales any more.

After a few hours, I headed back to my room, to have a shower before heading back into the city to get something to eat.

I was hoping to eat at a BBQ place opposite where I ate the night before, but it was crowded, as were most of the places. A few blocks to the south, I found a small bar that offered what turned out to be cracking Jambalaya. Also, they had the coolest music I heard on the whole trip. The new Ravonettes album was playing, and they all seemed pretty up on the music scene. When I mention I was going to see Brendan Benson the next night, one of them managed to find a compilation with Spit it Out on. As I promised myself, I got a taxi back: much less fraught.

Friday July 22 Woke up this morning expecting to see more unbroken sunshine, instead, when I pulled back the curtains. It was grey and slightly raining. So, once again headed for Starbucks for breakfast before deciding what to do. As I sat drinking my coffee, it appeared to have stopped raining, so, I decided to go to the space needle, and see the city from 500 feet up. It was only a short walk to the Space Needle, and being quite early, there was no queue. The view form the top was great, giving wonderful views of the commercial district, as well as the waterfront. It was a shame that it was so cloudy, as Mount Rainier, the mountain that dominates the city, was lost in clouds far to the south.

In truth, the viewing platform had all the charm of a school cafeteria, the only place to get any refreshments was a café, with self service machines, and the seating was on simple metal framed chairs. It was quickly getting busy, so, I grabbed some last pictures before deciding to head down again. To the north east was a lake, and through the telescopic lens, I could see sea planes taking off: giving me an idea what to do next.

All around the Space Needle, was a park, and there was a festival just starting; The Bite of Seattle. Various stalls were already cooking, giving a heady smell of sweet and savoury mixed together. It was only just 11, and was too early for me to think about eating, but a stand selling Stella did tempt. The dock for the seaplanes was a short walk away, and lucky for me, I got booked onto a flight in 90 minutes time. I decided to grab a sandwich, and was told there was a bar over the parking lot. It turned out to be in a four star hotel, but the views were good, and the beer cold.

The plane was a simple four seater, Second World War vintage, and there was one spare seat: so we readied to take off. The flight was great, and taking off, dodging the boats and yachts in the bay was an experience. But the views were great, and we had a headset on, that pointed out places of interest. We flew around the downtown area, and over a couple of the lakes that surround the city: before landing back on the lake. In the process dodging various boats and yachts that seemed to have a death wish. Landing, we touched down, apparently at the last minute, with the dock approaching rapidly. At least the pilot did not seem to be worried.

I decided to walk back into the city. It was not far, about 3 miles. Although walking anywhere in America seems to be an adventure, with sidewalks disappearing at will, and some junctions not having pedestrian crossings. By this time, the sun had broken through, and it was getting hot. I decided to have something to eat at a street side pizza place under the monorail on 4th street. It was called Pizza With Pizzazz. I had chicken Caesar salad along with iced tea.

I found out much to my cost that the trainers I was wearing were not really suitable for lots of walking: and I could feel a blister starting to burn. I saw a shoe shop, and took the plunge on a pair supposedly for hiking. At least it felt like I was wearing slippers for the rest of the day. On one side of Pike Street Market there was a good deli, and the coffee smelt so good, I could not resist. I also could not resist the Hungarian Coffee cake next to the teller. From one of the produce stalls I got something called donut peaches, which were really sweet. And something else called champagne grapes: all very tiny, but full of flavour, something else healthy to snack on.

That night was the night of a show featuring one of my favourite groups, Brendan Benson. It was at a small café near my hotel. The show was great, and really intimate. The support band The Crystal Skull was good, especially on their last song, ‘baby Boy.’ And they got a good round of applause at the end. Brendan’s show was great, much better than the one I saw earlier in the year. The new members of the band settled in well. They finished with a version of Gram Parson’s ‘Strong Boy,’ which was great. The show ended at half midnight, and there were no taxis to be seen, so, I braved the streets and walked back to the hotel.