A Day In Seattle

I was on Second Avenue in Seattle yesterday and take it from me, it doesn't look anything like that anymore! I like downtown Seattle, though, with its mix of old and new buildings ... and the new buildings look like they belong there, not just a random jumble of hideous glass rectangles. The modern buildings have a variety in their shape and form, variety in the use of brick and stone, a sense of playfulness and, horror of horror, a remarkable use of decoration. Its a very pleasant downtown to look at.

The drive down to Bainbridge Island was nice and uneventful. There's not many out of state cars on the road with gas being nearly $2.50 a gallon. I was able to find a parking place at the ferry teminal's parking lot and the ferry itself wasn't terribly crowded.

After the London bombings, there is a major presence of security guards at the terminal and onboard the ferry. The ferry was shadowed by a small Coast Guard patrol boat, though I have no idea what the purpose of that was. Don't walk away from your backpack or package while you're on the ferry, either. It will be immediately confiscated and impounded. Someone did just that while we were crossing over and the offending backpack was last seen in a plastic laundry tub headed for who knows what security office in Seattle!

After docking, I headed towards my destination, Elliott Bay Books and a meet-up with my friends Radi, Aviva and our Special Fortune Cookie Correspondent, Princess Rainy, and who should I meet coming the other way (headed to P.A., that is) but Mike. I haven't seen Mike in years, since he left P.A. and went off the University of Washington. Whattaya know! After a quick handshake and a very brief catch-up, we parted. By the way, the new ferry terminal in Seattle is very spiffy ... no longer the seedy, industrial, slightly creepy place it used to be. As a security measure, the urban campers are kept at a distance (actually, I didn't see any).

Heading up Yesler, I paused momentarily to gaze at the Vespas and Lambrettas parked in the motorbike area. Downtown Seattle is very much a scooter area. There was a very nice deep red Vespa, it looked like a new model, which caught my eye and across the street was an older Vespa, probably from the 60s, which looked very Mod. Seeing the scooters parked all together always starts my visit to Pioneer Square off right.

to be continued ...