The Emerald City - Day One

This week I will have the pleasure of hosting my dear friends Kevin and Jeanette Haley for their second visit to Portland. But before I host them in Portland, we're spending a few days together up north, exploring Seattle, Washington. 

Though I have been to Seattle a couple of times for day trips, (including for a Mariners' game and the U2 Vertigo Tour) this will be my first chance to experience the city in depth and really get a feel for it.

We arrived in Seattle this morning and went directly to the famous Pike Place Market.

Located just above Puget Sound this public market has much more than flying fish to offer. We had a few freshly made mini doughnuts for breakfast and enjoyed walking through the various food and flower vendors . . . 

Later we had lunch at Piroshky, Piroshky: a locally famous vendor of meat and cheese filled Russian pastries. They were really good!

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking along the Eliot Bay Waterfront and into the Pioneer Square neighborhood. We got the chance to see several things that we'd read about in guidebooks or had recommended to us by friends . . . but we were also able to get our directional bearings and lay-out a plan of attack for the next few days.

To rest our legs and cool off a bit, we checked-in at the Hotel Monaco and relaxed for a bit. Then it was back to the waterfront to have dinner at Ivar's seafood restaurant. 

After dinner we went up to the Seattle Center and the world-famous Space Needle. The night-time view from the top was most impressive and we enjoyed the delightful summer breezes from the Sound.

On the way home, we had the pleasure of riding the monorail . . . which was a bit of a surprise to me: I had heard that the monorail was out of operation after an accident last year, but apparently everything is up and running smoothly.