Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

seattle time

Melanie, Rob and I started our day with an early-morning jaunt to the Pike Place Market and Seattle waterfront. I relished the light chill in the air, a nice change from hot, humid D.C. Many of the market vendors were just setting up for the day — artisans arranging their wares, flower merchants arranging hefty bouquets, many booths sitting empty still.

I imagine that if I ever lived in Seattle, I’d hang out down here quite a bit. It’s an interesting mix of swirling activity and anonymity. I like the feeling of being alone in a crowd, and not worrying about random people interrupting my reverie.

After picking up Steve from the airport and paying a second visit to the market, we visited the Elliott Bay Book Company on Melanie’s recommendation. The bookstore, located in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, is a wonderful place to get lost, wandering amid the shelves and piles of fascinating titles.

Walking back across town, we asked a passerby about the Seattle monorail, which we hoped we could take to Seattle Center (and the Space Needle). The woman told us that there had been a fire on the monorail recently, and that, in the process of making repairs, officials found other safety issues, delaying the monorail’s reopening until sometime in December.

The lack of ready transportation meant that we’d have to walk several more blocks to get to our destination, so we stopped off at an odd Mexican/Italian restaurant called Bruno’s to fortify ourselves with so-strong-as-to-be-almost-undrinkable margaritas and surprisingly good nachos.

We arrived at the Space Needle just before dusk — the perfect time for great views and photo-taking. As we waited out the sunset, we heard the sounds of a marching band somewhere nearby, finally spotting the group parading down a street directly below us.

We’d planned to have dinner at a nearby tapas restaurant we’d passed on the way to the Space Needle (either Steve or Melanie confessed that they’d thought Rob had said “topless” when he first suggested it), but the dining spot was dark when we arrived, so we eventually found ourselves at Zeek’s, a fun pizza joint (with a really nicely-designed menu) that seemed to have opened only recently in the neighborhood. We settled into our booth with pizza and beer. I was so tired from the day (not to mention the sleepless “must get everything done before I leave” night I’d had before leaving for Seattle) that I struggled to stay awake through the meal. But the pizza — “Frog Belly Green” — was super-yummy.