Seattle

We took our first trip away from Vancouver last month across the border to Seattle. It was a well needed break from serving coffee and flogging phones. We took the Greyhound for 4 hours, sweated at the border in case we'd forgotten about any contraband fruits we might have accidently packed, and arrived at another rainy city! The Greyhound was surprisingly OK, apart from the driver not really liking any talking on the bus(?). We stayed at the Seattle City Hostel and were greeted by an overly enthused Chinese woman who refused to shake Stella's hand because she would 'only shake hands with the women' (more on that from Stell, I'm sure). Apart from our confused greeting, the hostel was really great; they had lots of great recommendations, a library, and a comfortable bed. They also served a free breakfast daily, but we only managed it once. 

We spent the first day settling into the neighbourhood- Belltown and Pike Place Market. We stopped by a gorgeous map shop in the market and purchased a guide book that took us to the Steelhead diner for lunch. After which, we wondered through the market, making all the touristy pit stops; the first Starbucks, the fish counter where burley fisherman shout a lot and throw the fish over each other’s heads, and many a talented busker. My first port of call was to a Seattle roaster, of which there are many, and we found Fonte opposite the Seattle Art Museum. I had a delicious cappuccino and Stell was defeated by the punchy espresso. It was more like a wine bar, than a coffee shop, but it became a good starting point to what turned out to be a caffeine frenzied trip.

Market Walls

Beyond the market and out to the seafront we found a series of jetty's housing some tacky souvenir stores and old fashioned amusements. We played some air hockey, won a lolly pop and ogled at the large bibbed Americans cracking shellfish at the famous Crab Pot restaurant. We continued our wonderings and found a great strip of bars close to our hostel. The first of which was Shorty's, with $2.50 beers and a pinball room out the back, it was AWESOME. It began our tendency in Seattle to just stumble upon some great places. We stayed for a few cheap drinks, and a few games, and tried to ignore the only downside that was the wrestling gluing every punter to the TV screens. A few doors down we stopped by Rendezvous, which was a darkly lit bar with an old fashioned theatre inside. We had missed the start of tonight’s event, which turned out to be Karaoke Movie night, and were pretty pleased to be treated to some Disney numbers.

We were very tired by the evening and were happy to just wonder back to the hostel, when we came across a restaurant called the Black Bottle. The menu was similar to the Vancouver trend of 'small plates' which we've become accustomed to. We had some delicious breads, belly pork and the best broccoli I have EVER had. Great find.

Our second day began by missing the free hostel breakfast, but we quickly found a cutesy coffee shop for doorstep toast and fuss-free coffee. It was the kind of place where there was an old bicycle mounted on the wall just for the sake of it; and I'm always lapping that pretentious stuff up. We then took the walk up Pike Street all the way to Capitol Hill, which promised to be the must see area. We stopped by some more coffee at Bauhaus, which was a coffee shop come library. YES. Unfortunately it never seemed like we really found what all the fuss was about at 'Cap Hill', although we did find the Stumptown Coffee shop, where I got to sample what the coffee I make every day should taste like.

[Stumptown is the roaster where the Salty Tongue get their coffee beans. We are the only place in Vancouver that serves their coffee and just after our trip I had a training weekend with Stumptown, as they like to make sure that it's being served in the right way, and that we all know about where the beans come from, processes involved and about the direct trade with farmers.] 

So I'm pretty pumped on caffeine by this point so we take the walk back to downtown via Pine Street. A recommendation from the hostel convinced us that the famous Space Needle would be a little disappointing for the price, so we took their great tip to go to the Columbia building. This is actually the largest building in Seattle so it made sense to get the best views from here. Took some great pictures and sussed out where to take the ferry to the following day. We could see out all across Puget Sound, which is the ocean channel between Seattle and Olympic National Park and all the islands in between. We then continued our walk down to Pioneer Sqaure to admire the oldest part of the city. 

 
We were disappointed to find the famous Grand Central Bakery cleared out (it was Valentine’s day, I suppose), but we soon found another independent cafe for afternoon tea and cake. We sat for a while considering our options for Valentine's Day, which we assumed would be few as we hadn't thought to book anywhere. But Stella's new passion for secret bars took us to Bathtub Gin & Co. We found the rumoured back alley and almost missed the plaque on the door that led us into a dark and hidden cocktail bar. With around 50 gins to choose from and the best seat in the house, we were pretty smug by this point. It was, understandably, a little expensive to camp down in for the night. So we headed towards the market, which a night, is a maze of hidden bars and restaurants packed down the back alleys and underneath the market stalls. We found a bizarre British-style country pub, complete with dog, and settled for a pizza in the Alibi Room underneath the market itself. It turned out to be an unexpectedly great Valentine's Day. (Even though I'd forgotten to get Stella a card, and she MADE me one.)

My Valentine's Day Card

 
For our final day in Seattle, we decided to take the ferry trip out to Bainbridge Island. On our walk to the ferry terminal we stopped by the first Starbucks, to see what the fuss was about. The shop itself is just a shop, you can't sit in and have coffee, and it seems to have been maintained in its old style with wooden crates everywhere and the old fashioned signage. The coffee was, however, the same as anywhere else, which I'm sure is the idea. The ferry ride was much more impressive than the Vancouver Sea Bus. We could actually go up on deck and take amazing photos of the Seattle skyline. It was super cold, and soon the idea of fish and chips was planted in my mind, and I wished I was back home. 

We wondered through the small town on the Island, and did the waterfront trail down past the fishing boats and wonderful scenery. We even managed to find some famed Seattle fish and chips at the Harbour side pub. We also located an ice-creamery and took a walk back through the waterfront park. By late afternoon we'd exhausted all we could on the Island on foot, so we took the ferry back downtown. On the return we were treated to a faint view of Mt Ranier, which was frighteningly big, and impossible to capture on camera. 

On the way back up towards the hostel we went for a happy hour stop at Zig Zag Cafe where we had some more fancy cocktails, and we were ready for some more afternoon drinking to take advantage of happy hours. We decided to try the market brewery for some beer tasting, but were refused alcohol because we didn’t have passports with us, and the same thing happened in the next place too. Apparently its state law, yet we hadn't had this problem until now. The staff weren't particularly nice about it either. So we headed back to the hostel to dress up for our last night, and went for a late happy hour at Local 360 for some more small plates, and more excellently dressed greens. 

On the morning of our departure, we took another stroll round the market, and we were still finding bits of it we hadn't seen the first time. Then we headed back to the Greyhound station, and had a reasonably pleasant return journey too. There were a couple of overly friendly strangers, and not quite enough teeth to go round, but overall I would use it again. 

Got a bit sad to be leaving Seattle as we’d had such an amazing time. It was a lot cheaper than Vancouver, so we went to some lovely places without worrying about money, which was nice. I think we'll definitely return before the year is over.