February 2011

Seattle's most famous landmark, The Space Needle

On my most recent visit to Seattle, I finally went up the Space Needle.  It was quite an impressive attraction.  Very tall indeed.  From its viewing deck, you could feel the tower sway a little bit because of the wind.  Nothing to be fearful though.  It felt extremely safe up there.

Here I am atop Seattle's Space Needle.

Isn't the view of the Seattle city skyline impressive?

My partner and I went all around the outdoor viewing deck but we went indoors right away as it was freezing and windy that morning.

Here's my partner, Marc, also at the outdoor viewing deck of Seattle's Space Needle.  Behind him is a view of Puget Sound.

A view of the Seattle city skyline from the Space Needle.

The Experience Music Project or EMP.

Every visitor to the Space Needle will definitely see this building.  It is close by.  I took this picture from the monorail station platform while waiting for the train to take us to downtown Seattle.  The trip, to our surprise, took less than 10 minutes.?

Among Seattle's must see's and must do's, a visit to the very famous Public Market is high up in the list.  It was my second visit to this landmark and as usual, it was mobbed with tourists.  There were lots of merchandise sold in there from sweets to handicrafts.  Quite colorful really.

A beautiful mural inside the public Market.

On the way from the Public Market to the Seattle Art Museum, Marc and I passed by this intriguing mix of new and old buildings. Quite a sight.

The Seattle Art Museum.

I love musuems and I try to visit the museums of all the cities I visit.  For the second time, though, I wasn't able to visit this Seattle landmark due to my very limited vacation time.  We signed up for the underground city tour by Bill Speidel instead and boy was it interesting.  I never knew that a part of Seattle's city center was built on top, I mean on top, of the old city.  Bill Speidel's underground tour is a definite must when you come here.  The guides are very funny too!

Pioneer Building

This building is located right in the middle of Pioneer Square.  It is here where Bill Speidel's underground tour begins.  There are literally hundreds of tourists who join this very quaint and interesting tour.  The tour we joined lasted for two hours and we bought the tour tickets a couple of hours prior the time we wanted.

A dusty corner of the old Moses Korn Mercantile Emporium, one of the subterranean stops on Bill Speidel's Underground Tour of Seattle.

This is a view of the undergound toilet with the famous turn of the century crapper.  This used to be part of a bank in Seattle's old city now buried under the new city center.

A bust of Chief Seattle, the Native American leader of the Duwamish and Sasquamish tribes of Puget Sound, in Pioneer Square.  The City of Seattle was named after him.