| Most visitors head down to the water and pay a visit to some of the
famous Seattle sights. Pike Place
Market, where fishmongers sing their way through your fish order,
has gained notoriety worldwide. In this, the heart of downtown
Seattle, fruit vendors hawk their wares in street-side shops, rubbing
elbows with bagel-delis, cafés and Irish pubs. For sights and smells,
this is it. If you’d rather have the sights without the smells, the
Seattle Art Museum has a variety of
offerings for the artistic palette. The discerning ear can enjoy a
performance by the Seattle Symphony at
Benaroya Hall, well worth the ticket. A short walk down the
hill from the market is the waterfront proper. Lounge on the grass at
Waterfront Park and watch
ferries pulling in and out of the Washington
State Ferry Terminal. Throw a line in at the public fishing pier, a
few blocks north of the park. Stop in first at the Seattle Marine
Aquarium and Omnidome for a look at some sea-life, in case you don’t
catch any of your own. Seattle’s NBA team, the Supersonics, call
Key
Arena in Seattle Center their home court. Off-season, the area still
draws crowds to the Pacific Science
Center, Experience Music
Project,
Opera House, Children’s Museum and
Seattle’s symbol, the Space Needle.
Take the elevator up to the Needle’s observation deck to enjoy views
from 520 feet above the city. Have dinner in the revolving
restaurant for 360 degrees of Seattle served to your table. A few
blocks to the northeast are the southern shores of Lake Union, which
serves as a conduit for traffic passing from the Puget Sound into Lake
Washington. The area is notoriously trendy. Do some people watching
in Gasworks Park on the north
shore, where old industrial buildings
have been incorporated into playground equipment. Bike, walk, or run
the Burke-Gilman Trail, 24 miles of paved path that ends in Marymoor
Park. Residents of Capital Hill have some of the most spectacular
views of the city. Though the area is mostly built up with private
homes, Volunteer Park sprawls
for 44 acres through the region, a
pleasant place to stroll. Stop in at the Seattle Asian Art Museum for
a sampling of Seattle’s rich cultural heritage. For a bigger stretch
of natural space, head to Discovery Park west of Lake Union on the
Puget Sound. When the picnic is over, watch boats come and go through
the Hiram M Chittenden Locks. Here sea-going vessels leave the
salt-waters of the Puget Sound for Lake Washington over Lake Union.
Commercial fishermen dock at the Fisherman’s Terminal, on the channel
between Lake Union and the locks. Directly across the Chittenden
Locks from Discovery Park is an area once predominantly Scandinavian.
Today, Ballard and Shilshole Bay see a fair share of cultural mixing.
Visit the Nordic Heritage
Museum for some Seattle history, and then
wander along the marina for more ships in from sea. If all this time
by the water has you hoping for the chance to get your toes wet, head
due east to Green Lake for a swim. If
things get a little crowded
with boaters and bikers and skaters and swimmers in summer, put it all
in perspective with a trip to Woodland
Park Zoo next to the
lake. The University of
Washington campus is between Lake Union and
Lake Washington, northeast of downtown Seattle. A thriving collegiate
populous frequent the area’s cheap – and varied – eats. Find pizza,
used music stores and bars that cater to student budgets, a sharp
contrast to downtown Seattle. Check out the Burke Museum for an
anthropology lesson and the Henry Art Gallery for edgy art. Just
south of the campus in Washington Park is the University of Washington
Arboretum with carefully cultivated displays of regional plant-life.
At the far end of the Arboretum is the Japanese Tea Garden complete
with authentic tea house. Stop in for a look at the serenely
beautiful ponds and groomed landscape. |
