Sleepless in Seattle

Homelessness clearly a major issue in Seattle, and we have been thinking a lot about some of the sights of poverty over the last couple of days.

https://www.statista.com/chart/6949/the-us-cities-with-the-most-homeless-people/

Earlier this year, we thought the townships in South Africa showed a quality of life so far removed from our own, but the emergence of these communities in the inner cities of the US something I was completely unprepared for.  Some interesting info here, it appears though the problems of homelessness in Seattle dates back to its earliest days of the settlement.  The term Skid Row originated in Seattle as a term to describe the street the original settlers skidded their logs down to port.  As these areas declined and the people therein fell on harder times it has taken on a much sadder context.  The people in that area today still suffering in the same way.

The Air Quality also awful today, so much so our plans to run with a local running group fell through. They sensibly have cancelled all training this week, apparently we are breathing in the equivalent of 7 cigarettes a day right now. Not good, not good at all.

Didn't stop us getting out and about though, and we took the following 30 minute stroll down to Pike Place Market for breakfast time. Definitely the time to get there, so much activity, and character.  Walked through Belltown, the old grunge centre, Nirvana, Pearl Jam all kicked off here. And my faves, Alice in Chains, who I did see back in the day ...






We stopped en route for possibly the best bagel I have had, jalapeno bagel with bacon and scrambled eggs - simply the best.

breaky

best bagel ever

Whilst down at the market we took a look at the infamous if a bit icky gum wall.  And saw some of the fishmongers doing their thing.

ee by gum

We strolled up to downtown ? and found some air conditioning and wi fi in a few of the malls.  Chrissi and Carys did a bit of shopping, Bryn and I refreshed the internet regularly to keep up with the Swans score.

siopa

street football

Caught the monorail to the Space Needle, spent some time in the grounds, the museum of popular culture and nearby gardens.  All seemed to require more money than we were willing to part with to engage completely but got all we needed from the outside looking up/in depending on your point of view.

monorail monotone

early robot prototype

femme bot

giving me the needle

The stroll back to our appartment was very short, we really are in a great location. Stopped off in a supermarket and purchased loads of nice food from the deli.  Rather surprised at the size of the bill, perhaps not eating out is a false economy, although we now have some grub for the next few days. Sat on the rooftop balcony looking out at the city, playing some cards and having a little drinkie.

acting the goat

circus trick

bottom of the wine glass

All very tired though, and perhaps still not quite over the jet lag, we had a quiet night indoors watching old episodes of Frasier.  Need to get the old driving head from tomorrow, so began to make plans for stop offs and scenery. Plus, we had to enjoy the surrounds of the Air BNB, a real chance to immerse ourselves in the day to day life of the city.  Have to also summon the energy to fit an extra run in sometime now that we failed miserably today.

However sleepless we might be though, there are many others in this City who will be a damn sight worse off tonight.  Todays song appropriately a bit of grunge from Seattle based Alice in Chains, but maybe the Man in a Box has a different take today.

Carys -

Again, we started off the day early, and with no plans for breakfast. My bed was lovely, as I had expected, and I slept well. We left the apartment around 9am, and decided to eat once we'd found our destination of the day - Pike Place Market.

We passed many a coffee shop on our way, most were Starbucks. However we waited until we reached the market, which only took 20 minutes or so, and then enjoyed breakfast in a lovely cafe called Cherry Street Coffee House. I made the mistake of having two 'small' breakfasts again, assuming that would be satisfactory, when really it was too much. I won't make the same mistake again, hopefully.  However the parts of the oatmeal and bagel I did eat, I enjoyed.

After our breakfast, we headed down an immensely steep hill (which we had already climbed up to eat breakfast) and walked around the market. There were so many different products being sold, from flowers  to fish. We didn't buy much (Bryn got some sunglasses so he didn't have to keep nicking mine), just looked around. A movie called Super Intelligence was also being filmed in the area we happened to be in, so that was quite interesting.

Next we decided to head up to the space needle via some shopping malls. Mum and I had a quick look around, whilst the boys tried to get some WiFi to keep up with the Swansea match at home. Mum also spent a while looking for some shoes, as she had left her sandals at home, but in the end we found a reasonable pair.

Mum also spotted a monorail sign, so it was easy to get to the space needle from the city centre. We didn't go up as it was quite expensive, and we were unlikely to see anything from all the smog (fires). Instead we browsed the Museum Of Pop Culture shop, looked around lovely park, a garden and the areas around  it. There were amazing views of the needle from below, however.

On the walk home which wasn't long, we 'popped' into a supermarket to buy some food for dinner. It turned out as more than we expected, but the food was delicious when we ate it. I always find it fun, shopping in a foreign country.



We spent the rest of the evening eating food and playing cards on the roof, and watching funny TV shows in our apartment. It has been another great day of tourism.