Seattle, May 2001

Seattle is famous for rain!  We were lucky and only had a little shower one evening.  The city is very hilly and rivers and lakes split up the city.  It feels very like San Francisco as it has lots of nice bars and neighbourhoods.  We took our bikes and cycled along the waterfront (where the cruise liners leave for Alaska trips) and also went to Bainbridge, the nearest island across from Seattle.  We spent 4 days in Seattle which was just enough to check out the famous bits!  The Space Needle was built for the 1962 World Fair and the views from the tops are great (when it's not raining).  We treated ourselves to Sunday Brunch and it was well worth the money.

The Rock & Roll Museum is housed in a building designed by Frank Gehry who also did the Bilbao art gallery in Spain.  I was very impressed with the use of metals and colours. It was built around the monorail, which was also built for the World Fair.  The trip only takes 5 minutes to downtown but is fun.

Pike Street Market is thankfully not as touristy as Fisherman's Wharf.  It is a regular market selling mostly fish, flowers and vegetables but now also has craft stalls.  

Frank Gehry curves		Space Needle
Seattle from Ferry	Frank Gehry building	From the needle
		The monorail goes through the museum
"moon surface" car	Seattle from ferry	Cranes with Mt Rainer
Mt Rainer		Mt Rainer (again)!